


The Green and the Yellow, Book 3: Into the Future

by DoveShadow



Series: The Green and the Yellow [3]
Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Action/Adventure, But thanks to the Overlord we can't use them, Even More Shenanigans, F/M, Green Ninja, JUST KISS ALREADY, Ninja, Ninja never quit, Ninjago, Overlord returns, Pythor is still an idiot, Romance, Slow Burn, Spinjitzu is fun, Yellow Ninja, chartreuse, gold and sliver powers are OP, nindroids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:01:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 42,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25438102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoveShadow/pseuds/DoveShadow
Summary: With the dark lord defeated, all of Ninjago is at peace. Lloyd and Aurora are celebrated as heroes, travelling the land to accept the gifts and thanks of the people. All the while, Aurora begins to struggle with the fact that her feelings for her best friend have grown far beyond friendship, and into something more.Lloyd and Aurora journey home to their friends, only to find that the villainous Overlord has returned---and he’s after their powers. The two of them suddenly find themselves on the run, keeping their powers hidden so that the Overlord can’t use them to return to a physical form once again. Will they be able to stop him for good this time?
Relationships: Cole/Nya (Ninjago), Lloyd Garmadon/Original Character(s), Lord Garmadon/Misako (Ninjago), Nya/Jay Walker, P.I.X.A.L./Zane (Ninjago)
Series: The Green and the Yellow [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677793
Comments: 51
Kudos: 35





	1. Episode 28: When I'm With You

**Author's Note:**

> OMG IT'S FINALLY HERE!!! Book 3 is here!! *happy squealing noises* Are you guys ready for Rebooted?!?! I don't think you are!!
> 
> I was gonna wait another week to post this, but I got tired of waiting! I was too excited to start posting season 3, so here it is! Thank you all for being patient. Hope I didn't make you wait too long! Same schedule as the last book: I'll post a new chapter every Wednesday---unless I get too impatient with myself and post early. This season's a lot shorter than the rest, but it'll be just as thrilling! I have surprises up my sleeve that you'll just love!
> 
> Okay, enough talk. Enjoy chapter one!  
> \----------

Being a celebrated hero that was famous throughout the entire land certainly had both its ups and its downs.

Not too long after Lloyd and I had defeated the Overlord and saved all of Ninjago, our attendance was suddenly being demanded everywhere across the land. Apparently, a lot of people wanted to give us awards as their way of thanking us for what we’d done. Of course, Lloyd and I didn’t think that any of it was necessary, but the many letters that we received were quite insistent. There were so many places wanting our attention that we decided to make a road trip out of it. So, after saying goodbye to everyone, Lloyd and I set out on the golden dragon.

While traveling on our “victory tour,” as I had dubbed it, Lloyd and I actually had a lot of fun with it being just the two of us. I mean, come on, two best friends travelling the land? How were we expected not to get into any shenanigans? We may or may not have made a few stops along the way between each town (literally whenever we thought of something fun to do). 

Oh, and Lloyd finally made good on his promise to me---we finally had time to go to an amusement park! He’d surprised me by taking me there; once I’d spotted it as we were flying through the air, I’d squealed so loudly in excitement that I was sure I’d damaged his eardrums. Plus, apparently since we saved Ninjago, the owner let us do things for free. It was easily one of the best days of my life; he and I had loads of fun.

As you can tell, there were definitely a lot of pros to being celebrated as heroes. For the first time in a while, I got to truly relax. Ever since Lloyd and I had both been discovered as the Green Ninja and Yellow Ninja, our lives had been filled with constant training and back-to-back problems that only ninja could solve. It had been a race to get us both fully trained before the final battle. Don’t get me wrong, I loved learning how to be a true ninja---but now that the prophecy was fulfilled and we didn’t have nearly as much pressure on us anymore, it felt nice to be able to calm down and not have to worry about any impending doom.

I had never really been one for large crowds, or just being around strangers in general. When it was necessary or when I was saving their life, I’d ignore my shyness of course and get the job done---but I usually preferred to only be around people I knew. That had been one of the reasons why making friends during my orphanage days had been so difficult. Now, it had grown easier to deal with, but I still didn’t like being in large crowds of strangers for too long. And really, who did?

The award ceremonies Lloyd and I attended almost always had a lot of people at them, much to my chagrin. And once we’d accepted our awards and the party got started, almost every single one of those people wanted to talk to us. Most of them only wanted to (profusely) thank us for what we’d done, but some others would drag us into conversations that seemed to last forever. Most of the time, they’d split the two of us up, not to be reunited until the end of the evening. I had been asked to tell the tale of how Lloyd and I had defeated the Overlord so many times that I’d lost count long ago.

Honestly, I did appreciate how thankful the people of Ninjago were. And even though I thought that the awards they gave us were totally unecessary, I still appreciated those, too. But still, I kind of just wanted to be at home, where the rest of my family was. I knew that Lloyd felt the same way.

Tonight, Lloyd and I were attending a ceremony in a large town in the northern regions of Ninjago. We’d long since been dragged in separate directions to be part of different conversations. Once again, I was telling the townspeople about our battle with the Overlord, and I kind of wished Lloyd was with me. Not only did I feel like he was the better storyteller, but the two of us enjoyed telling the story more when we told it together. If my storytelling ability was lacking in any way, however, the people didn’t say a word about it. They were probably too engrossed in the story to notice or care.

The reception was being held outside in the town square, underneath the night sky. When I felt a sudden urge to go stargaze (and to also take a break from being around all these people), I excused myself, telling them that I “had to use the little girls’ room”---the only foolproof excuse I could think of where none of them would follow me. Using my ninja stealth skills, I passed by the refreshment table and swiped a plate full of finger sandwiches (whoever had made them was a true culinary artist; I’d eaten one earlier, and now I couldn’t get enough). Then, I snuck over behind a nearby house, planning to find a way up to the roof when I almost bumped into someone.

It was Lloyd, much to my surprise. Once we saw each other, we both started laughing quietly at how things had turned out.

“Well, well, well,” I drawled, playfully smirking. “We meet again, Golden Ninja.”

Lloyd chuckled at my banter. “Long time no see,” he greeted.

I snickered. “Did we… Did we have the same idea here?” I asked, gesturing to the secluded spot we were in.

“We always have the same idea,” Lloyd reminded me, smiling in amusement.

After sharing another quiet laugh, I gestured upward. “Follow me,” I told him. Carefully gripping my plate of food, I leapt onto the nearby fence, then used that to get on top of the roof of the house. It was the side facing away from the party in the town square, but was still close enough so that we could return quickly if we were missed. I was sure that none of the townspeople would notice us up here; after all, people seldom looked up.

Lloyd followed me onto the roof, plopping down beside me when I found a place to sit. “Here,” I said, setting the plate of sandwiches down between us. “My stomach told me to snag these.”

My best friend snickered. “Wow. You stole food from your own party. I never knew you had it in you.”

I faced him with a mischievous smirk as I picked up a sandwich. “It’s better than stealing candy.”

As soon as I brought it up, Lloyd groaned loudly, shaking his head. “Aw, come on, Aurora…”

I raised my fists into the air, slightly raising my voice. “Take the candy! Take it all!” I then did my best impression of ten-year-old Lloyd’s evil laugh.

Lloyd reached over and lightly shoved me to get me to stop. The two of us burst out laughing, enjoying the joke that only we understood. It was way too fun to make jokes about Lloyd’s “evil” escapades, especially since his reactions were always worth bringing them up. Gee, that had been back when I’d first met Lloyd, when we were still kids and when the Serpentine had first been released. Even sitting on this rooftop reminded me of when I’d first met Lloyd (and saved him from dangling off of one). If you went back and told ten-year-old me that one day she’d become a powerful ninja and save Ninjago, she probably wouldn’t have believed you.

Our laughter died down, and we both descended into a companionable silence. The two of us enjoyed gazing up at the stars and munching on sandwiches, taking advantage of this moment’s respite from constantly smiling and talking to all the townspeople. I was sure that they wouldn’t spot us up here, but I still wondered if our shiny gold and silver ninja garb was too bright to go unnoticed.

After the plate had been cleared of any and all sandwiches, I sighed. “I hope we get to go home soon,” I said, gazing up at the twinkling stars I’d stared at all my life. “I miss the guys. And Nya. And Sensei.”

Lloyd nodded. “Yeah. I do, too,” he agreed.

I turned to look at him. “You probably miss your parents as well, huh?” He had only just been reunited with his father---and his mother, for that matter.

“Yeah,” he replied, nodding again. “But we’ll see them again soon.”

I made a noise of agreement, turning back to look up at the night sky. I was quiet for a few minutes more, then another thought struck me. “I wonder what’s next for us,” I mused aloud.

Lloyd hummed in thought. “I’m...not sure,” he admitted. “There are no more enemies left to fight, for now.”

“There might be, one day,” I replied. After all, in a world such as this, things unfortunately never stayed peaceful for long. Like Kai had said, there would always be a need for a ninja.

“I know,” Lloyd said. Then, he turned to me with a confident smile. “But whatever comes our way, we’ll be ready. After all, when you and I are together, Rose, there’s nothing we can’t do.”

His words made me start to blush, but I think it was dark enough for him not to notice. “Absolutely,” I agreed, mirroring his smile of confidence. Once we descended into silence again, I turned my gaze back up to the stars, immersing myself within my thoughts.

My feelings for Lloyd hadn’t dwindled at all---if anything, they’d grown steadily worse since we’d defeated the Overlord. Being alone together most of the time on a road trip around Ninjago certainly hadn’t helped with that. Whenever I was with him, I was at my happiest. He and I were closer than we’d ever been---and yet I _still_ couldn’t figure out for sure if he reciprocated my feelings or not. It was frustrating me to no end. I had my suspicions of course, but I was still afraid of the worst-case scenario becoming a reality (something that petrified me). Nya had told me from the start that the fastest way to find out would be to just come out with it and tell him how I felt about him. But was I brave enough for that? Would that be too bold? Was now even the right time for something like that?

Hang on. Would there ever really _be_ a right time?

Ninjago was, for the moment, in a time of peace. There were no evil supervillains threatening the land. No evil plots to foil or even worry about happening. No final battles to train for. If I waited any longer, some threat would probably come up that demanded all our attention, and there would be significantly less proper times for things like that. Also, Lloyd and I were having a nice, quiet moment together. Alone. In a romantic setting under the stars.

Honestly, if I wanted a perfect moment to confess to him...right now, there was one right in front of me.

I made my decision. Taking a deep, silent breath, I steeled my nerves and gathered all the bravery I had in me. _You can do this, Aurora_ , I thought, mentally cheering myself on. _Just tell him. Speak from your heart. You’ve got this._

I turned my head over to Lloyd, making myself start speaking before I lost my nerve. “Um, Lloyd?” I said, grabbing his attention and trying my best not to gulp. “There’s...something I’ve gotta tell you. I-It’s been on my mind for a while, and I---”

My communication device chose that exact moment to start beeping.

My gaze snapped down to the vibrating object in my pocket. I’d been gifted with the small comm device shortly before Lloyd and I had left Ninjago City, and I’d taken it with me so we could stay in touch with the others back home. Right now, I wished it had never been given to me.

_Are you freaking kidding me?!_ I slightly glared down at the object as I pulled it out of my pocket. _I finally work up the courage to tell Lloyd how I feel, and THIS happens?!_ I flipped the device over to glance at the contact name, ready to tell off whoever it was. _This had better be good…_

All my anger was replaced with confusion when I saw Nya’s name on the screen. I had called her a few times during the trip, just to check in with her and for both of us to see how the other was doing. She’d told me to call her whenever I wanted to talk, instead of the other way around. If she was calling me...then something was wrong.

“It’s Nya,” I announced to Lloyd, frowning. He mirrored my look of confusion as I pressed the answer button, making the device finally cease its loud beeping as I brought it up to my ear. “Hello? Nya?”

“ _Aurora!_ ” came the relieved, frantic reply. “ _Thank goodness! You and Lloyd have to come back to New Ninjago City right now!_ ”

My confusion quickly morphed into worry. “Whoa, slow down, Nya. What’s wrong?”

“ _I_ _t’s the Overlord!_ ” Nya’s words made my stomach drop. “ _He’s returned!_ ”

I gasped, terror striking me for a moment. _But how?! We defeated him! He was vanquished!_ This was something out of my worst nightmares. “What?!” I exclaimed in disbelief.

“ _The ninja need your help! They can’t fight him alone--- We need you both!_ ”

Banishing my fear for a moment, I answered her. “Okay, Nya. We’re on our way!” I ended the call, stuffed the comm device back into my pocket, and stood up.

“What is it?” Lloyd asked, standing up after I did.

“I-It’s the Overlord,” I told him, still unable to believe that this was even happening. “He’s back.”

Lloyd seemed to feel the same shock that had coursed through me a second ago. “W-What? But I thought we defeated him for good!”

“That’s what I thought, too!” Our battle had been called the _final_ battle, after all. The battle to end all battles. How could the Overlord return after something like that?

Lloyd then made a determined face. “We’ll have to ask questions later. Right now, what matters is that our friends need us.”

I nodded, also growing determined and ignoring my shock and bewilderment for now. We had a job to do. “Right. Let’s go.”

Lloyd and I hopped off the roof, scurrying to the village’s outskirts and finding a wide grassy area to summon the dragon in. Like so many other times, I gathered my silver power as Lloyd gathered his golden power. We both focused, releasing our combined power and manifesting it into a golden dragon that gleamed with a silver aura. Once we were both situated, Lloyd immediately took off into the sky, making the dragon fly as fast as it could toward New Ninjago City.

I just hoped we weren’t too late.

By some stroke of luck, the town that we were at happened to be not too far from the city. Flying on the golden dragon at full speed, New Ninjago City soon appeared on the horizon. I took a moment to be amazed at how different it looked; it had been majorly upgraded with new technology, and lit up the night brighter than ever before.

A feeling of dread formed in the pit of my stomach the closer we got, and I pulled my mask on along with Lloyd. Holding onto him, I peered down at the city below as we flew over it. All of the technology seemed to be going haywire, attacking anyone unlucky enough to be in their sights. And who did we find in the middle of it all? Kai, Jay, Cole, Zane, and Sensei Wu, of course.

All of the robots were converging on them, boxing them in and cutting off all escape. Lloyd and I exchanged a look, knowing we had to do something---and fast.

“Ready?” I asked him.

He nodded. “Let’s light them up.”

The two of us stood up on the dragon’s back. I summoned my silver power, using it to form a bright ball of light. Lloyd did the same with his golden power, and together we combined our powers to form one giant blast of silver and gold that consumed the surrounding area in its blinding glare. When it subsided, all the robots were now standing frozen in place, attacking the ninja no more. A sparkling silver and gold mist blanketed the street below, making the scene almost peaceful.

Lloyd and I exchanged a high-five. As we swooped in for a landing, our friends below cheered loudly at the sight of us. I couldn’t help but smile; clearly, they were as glad to see us as I was to see them.

Lloyd landed the dragon in the middle of the street, and it vanished, leaving us both standing together.

“Robots versus ninja?” Lloyd inquired, sounding amused. “Heh.”

“Dare we ask?” I said, snickering.

The guys all ran over to us, cheering and wasting no time in embracing us. I hugged each of them gleefully, glad to be reunited with them.

“You two are a sight for sore eyes,” Kai greeted, his tone sounding very relieved.

Grinning, I leaned over and hugged him again. “I missed you all so much!” I exclaimed.

“We missed you, too, sis,” Cole agreed, smiling.

_“So, you couldn’t help yourselves._ ”

The familiar, creepy voice made everyone break apart. I looked up, and my heart sank when I saw the glowing, evil eyes of the Overlord on a large screen that hung on a nearby building. _He really has returned…_

“ _The Golden and Silver Ninjas...we meet again_ ,” he growled from the screen.

Lloyd and I walked forward to face him, standing tall side by side. “Overlord,” Lloyd greeted in a firm tone. “We defeated you once, we’ll defeat you again.”

I leered up at the screen. “Yeah, you shouldn’t have come back. Get ready to lose. Again.”

“ _Oh, I don’t want to fight…_ ”

I heard a whirring noise, and looked around us. The robots were rebooting themselves!

“ _I just want your powers!_ ” the Overlord finished ominously.

Lloyd and I stepped forward, ready to show the robots who was boss again. Sensei Wu’s staff stopped us.

“No, you two,” he told us. “Your powers are only making them stronger.”

I paused. “Wait, what?” How was that possible?

“But how do we fight?” Lloyd asked him.

“We don’t,” Kai stated. “We need to get you both and the Techno Blades out of the city.”

“I don’t think he’ll let us leave,” Cole pointed out nervously.

“I have an idea,” Sensei Wu announced, “but I don’t have much time to explain. Listen close…”

Everyone huddled together, listening closely to our sensei’s plan. Once he was finished, we all nodded in unison. Then, with a cry of “Ninja, go!” we all twisted into our tornadoes of Spinjitzu, splitting up from one another. Kai, Jay, Cole, and Zane all got into their commandeered vehicles, while Lloyd and I summoned the dragon again, flying up into the air and as far away from the situation as we could.

Even though we didn’t want to.

Once we had fled outside the city, we waited to rendezvous with the other ninja. The sun began to rise as we did, beginning a new day in Ninjago. One that wasn’t nearly as peaceful as the day before.

We regrouped with the others, speeding away from New Ninjago City as fast as we could. I looked down at all of their vehicles, but didn’t see Sensei Wu among them.

“We can’t just leave Sensei behind!” I told the guys. “We have to go back for him.”

“We will,” Kai assured me, “but only when you and Lloyd are safe.”

Lloyd and I were about to protest further, but Cole spoke up first. “The Overlord wants these weapons, and for some reason, he also wants the two of you. Remember, this was Sensei’s plan. They can’t break him.”

I sighed, knowing that he was right. Still, leaving Sensei behind wasn’t sitting right with me. Everything was happening all at once… How would Lloyd and I defeat the Overlord again if we couldn’t even use our powers against him?

“Yesterday is gone,” Zane stated. “Tomorrow has yet to come. We need to worry about today.”

“You said it, Zane,” Jay agreed.

“We _will_ come back to New Ninjago City,” Zane assured us. “And when we do, we’ll be ready.”

“But for now, we find someplace safe to hide,” Kai suggested. “They’ll be looking for us.”

Lloyd and I exchanged an uneasy look. I grabbed his hand in my own, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He squeezed back, looking forward again as we followed the ninja away from the city. Just as I thought that we’d be able to swoop in and save the day again, that was sadly not the case. After all, things never happened the same way twice---and something told me that we wouldn’t be defeating the Overlord the same way as before.

I had no idea where we’d go from here. But I did know one thing: together, we would defeat the Overlord again, and save the city. Whatever it takes.


	2. Episode 29: The Art of the Silent Fist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lord Garmadon is now Sensei Garmadon? And he has his own monastery?
> 
> How did he get a monastery? Does he even have the money for that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two, right on time! Who else loves Sensei Garmadon? Honestly, we didn't get nearly enough episodes with him before he... Well, we'll cross that sad bridge when we get to it. It's a loooong way off.
> 
> Also, a warning: slightly potent fluffy fluff in this chapter. Read at risk of combustion. Enjoy!  
> \---------------------

On our way to the designated safe place, the guys filled me and Lloyd in on what they knew. The Overlord had been able to return because Cyrus Borg--the man who invented most of the new technology powering Ninjago--had built his industry tower on top of where the Overlord’s fortress once stood. Somehow, the Overlord had been able to survive in the digiverse all this time. That apparently meant that he could take control of any technology on the same network---and the Techno Blades the ninja carried were the only things that could disrupt that influence. One good thing about this was that the Overlord was stuck in the digital world, and had no physical form.

Yet.

After some debate, ultimately it was Lloyd who came up with a place to hide: his father’s monastery. It didn’t take long to travel to the remote valley where the monastery was, and I found myself growing excited as we approached it. Lloyd had told me that his father wanted to start teaching, since his darkness was long gone and all, and now we would get to see him in action.

When we landed, our dragon vanished, and the ninja quickly hid their vehicles. Kai, Jay, Zane, and Nya (who had joined up with us along the way) gathered leaves and branches to cover their vehicles, while Cole just ripped two trees up from the ground and sandwiched his walker between them.

Ah, it was good to be home.

Lloyd and I walked over to him, the former of us sighing in relief. “This is a perfect place to lay low,” he stated. “No robots, no cameras, no problems.”

“It’s so peaceful here---and remote,” I added, basking in the warm sunlight.

Nya walked over to us, holding two bundles in her hands. “Still, if any aerial drones pass overhead, you better wear these.” She tossed a green bundle to Lloyd, and a yellow bundle to me. “Those’ll scramble their signal, so they can’t find you two.”

Grinning, I separated from Lloyd and scurried behind a large bush to change. Nya had made me a brand-new ninja gi---yellow, of course, with a lot of silver accents. The mask was different than I was used to, only covering the bottom half of my face instead of my entire head. After putting it all on, I looked down at myself, smiling in satisfaction. Sure, my shiny Silver Ninja gi was fancy and pretty to look at, but it was nice to be back in yellow again; it felt more familiar to me.

Once I was done, I eagerly rejoined the others. I met up with Lloyd, also in his new ninja garb. His green and gold gi looked good on him. I decided to tell him as much. “Lookin’ good,” I said playfully, exchanging a fist-bump with him.

Lloyd chuckled. “Yeah, this is sweet,” he stated, apparently liking our new uniforms as much as I did.

“Lloyd?”

We turned at the familiar voice, pulling our masks down. It was Misako, appearing from the forest with a basket of food. At the sight of her son, she dropped said basket and ran to greet him.

“Mom?” Lloyd inquired, smiling as he turned to her.

Misako embraced him in a tight hug. When she pulled away, she saw me nearby, and grinned again. “And Aurora.” She walked over and gave me a hug, too.

I giggled, happily returning the unexpected embrace. “Hi, Mrs. Garmadon.”

She let go of me, turning to face our whole group. “What are you all doing here?” she asked.

“The Overlord’s back,” Lloyd explained grimly, “and New Ninjago City has fallen under his control. He has Sensei Wu.”

“Wu’s tough,” Misako reassured him. “There’s a reason he’s lived as long as he has.”

Lloyd’s smile returned. “Well, where’s Dad?”

“Yeah, where _is_ Lord Garmadon?” Kai wondered, frowning from his typical suspicion.

“He no longer goes by Lord,” Misako informed him. “Here, he’s Sensei Garmadon. And he won’t be back until this evening’s lesson.”

Jay held up a hand. “Uh, did you just say _Sensei_ Garmadon?!”

“I’m glad he’s on our side now,” Zane stated. “With Sensei Wu gone, we could use the help.”

I nodded in agreement. _Yeah, I’m still so glad that we were able to bring him back from the Overlord’s possession,_ I thought to myself. _And it was also a happy accident that the Great Devourer’s venom turned out to be reversible…_

Misako gestured in the direction of the monastery. “Come in, but your weapons are not allowed,” she said. “Ever since Lloyd and Aurora saved him, Garmadon’s sworn an oath to never fight, in hope to make up for his evil past. It’s an oath he takes very seriously.”

The guys frowned, pulling out their Techno Blades. “But we were supposed to protect these with our lives,” Kai explained.

“And never let them out of our sight,” Jay added.

Zane spoke up. “You guys go on ahead,” he told us. “I will stay back and watch over them.”

The boys didn’t even argue, eagerly handing their Techno Blades over to Zane without a second thought.

“Thanks, Zane!”

“That’s awesome.”

“You’re the best.”

“See ya!”

They walked away, eagerly following Misako into the forest. I shook my head, sighing at their behavior, then turned to Zane. “Stay safe, alright?” I told him.

He nodded, smiling at me. I felt a little sorry for him, but it was ultimately his decision…

I turned and ran to catch up with the others, growing intrigued at the idea of seeing Garmadon as an actual sensei instead of the dark lord we’d always known him as.

On the way to the monastery, Nya found me at the back of the group. “So, how are things going?” she greeted me, smiling knowingly.

“All things considering?” I replied, returning her smile. “Pretty good, I guess. Super bummed that the Overlord’s back, but I’m not gonna let it get me down.”

“No, not that,” she told me frantically. After a quick glance at the boys, who were asking Misako questions about her husband (cough, Kai, cough), she asked in a softer voice, “How are things going with...you know?” She jerked her head in Lloyd’s direction.

My eyes widened. I briefly looked at him, seeing that he was laughing at something Jay said and not paying attention to me, then looked back at Nya. “Eh… I’m not sure how to explain it,” I replied at the same volume. “We’ve grown closer, but I’m not sure it’s... _that_ type of close...you know?” I rubbed my nape nervously. “I was actually gonna tell him how I felt about him, but…”

“But what?” Nya inquired eagerly.

I cringed. “I was...interrupted.” Bringing up the fact that her call was what had interrupted me was something I decided against. That would just make her feel guilty, and besides, it hadn’t really been her fault.

Nya sighed in disappointment. “Darn…” She made a frustrated face. “The suspense is killing me! You two need to get together already.”

I raised an eyebrow, unsure whether to be amused or embarrassed. “Wow… I had no idea that you shipped us this much.”

“Are you kidding?” Nya exclaimed softly. “Aurora, you should tell him how you feel. And soon. You never know when another girl might come into his life---”

“What?!” I whisper-shouted in surprise. “Really? Who? Is that gonna happen? Oh no…”

Nya started laughing, making me stop my panicked rant. “That was too easy.” She gave me a sly smile. “Did someone just get jealous?”

“N-No!” I immediately denied, blushing in embarrassment as I hung my head. “Okay, yes…” I wanted Lloyd to be happy, of course, but just the thought of him with someone else… At this point, I was so far gone that I wasn’t sure my heart could take that.

Nya placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Relax, Aurora. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” After I gave her a confused look, she smiled in reassurance. “If I’m being honest, I think he just might feel the same way.”

My eyes widened. “You do?” I asked hopefully.

“Yeah,” she replied, nodding. “I mean, after all the two of you have been through together? I would be surprised if he _didn’t_ like you.”

I glanced over at Lloyd, a smile slowly forming over my face. Her words gave me new hope. Perhaps next time, when I finally found another perfect moment, I would actually be able to tell him. “Thanks, Nya,” I told her, smiling gratefully. After the fluffy moment passed, I spoke again. “Okay, now it’s your turn. How are things going with Jay?”

Nya’s expression suddenly turned anxious, and she chuckled nervously. “Uh, that’s...complicated at the moment.”

“Aw, come on! It’s always been complicated.”

“No it hasn’t!”

I snickered, sensing that she didn’t really want to discuss it. “Okay, okay. We’ll talk later.”

The roaring of a waterfall sounded close by, and soon we arrived at the monastery. A waterfall cascaded behind the tall building almost majestically, and a few small houses sat along the pathway leading to it. I had to stop for a moment and awe at the serene beauty of this place.

I walked beside Lloyd now as we walked through the gate. A group of kids were kicking around a ball in the middle of the path, and the ball happened to roll in our direction as we approached. Kai caught it, and when the kids spotted us, they all ran over in excitement.

“Ah, at least there’s some places left in this world I’m still considered cool,” Cole boasted pridefully.

Right after he said that, the kids all ran straight past him, scurrying toward me and Lloyd. They all wore huge grins, surrounding the two of us and hopping with awe and excitement.

“Oh, wow!”

“It’s the Green Ninja!”

“And the Yellow Ninja!”

“So awesome!”

I giggled at all the attention and admiration we were getting. Apparently, we had tiny fans, too. One of the girls walked up to me and hugged me from the side, making my heart melt. These kids were so adorable!

Jay chuckled at Cole. “Nope, still totally lame.” He then walked over with the others, greeting the kids. “Hey, hey!”

He, Kai, and Cole gave all the kids high-fives. Cole let one boy dangle from his arm, curling his bicep and lifting the laughing boy up and down. I laughed as we all played with the kids; this was a kind of attention that I didn’t mind in the least.

At one point, I glanced over at Nya, and saw her staring dreamily at Jay...and Cole?!

Uh oh. Was that what she didn’t want to tell me? What was going on?

The boys and I happily played with the adorable children until the sun went down. Then, after dinner, it was time for us all to gather in the monastery for the night’s lesson. I sat on the floor between Lloyd and Nya, eagerly awaiting Garmadon’s arrival. Everyone sat in silence as we waited---even the kids were quiet, and I admired their discipline.

Finally, a shadowy figure appeared behind the screen door. It held a long staff, and had...four arms?! I collectively gasped with the others, but then the door slid to the side, revealing a staff member standing in front of Garmadon. He quickly moved to the side, bowing in respect so the sensei could walk into the room.

I inwardly snorted at myself. _Eh, old habits die hard…_

Sensei Garmadon carried a bamboo staff that looked a lot like his brother’s, and wore gray, green, and black robes. When he spotted Lloyd on the floor, he smiled. “Ah, my son! So glad you could join us.”

Lloyd chuckled, waving at him. “Heh, it’s been a while, father.”

As Garmadon walked into the room, Jay leaned over to Cole. “Check out the new sensei. Looking sharp,” he whispered, not very quietly.

“Silence!” Garmadon demanded, walking over and whacking Jay on the head with his staff. Much like Sensei Wu always had.

“Ow!”

I coughed into my hand to conceal a laugh. I was loving this so far.

“Close your mouth and open your ears,” Garmadon instructed. “Tonight’s lesson is the art of the silent fist, to fight without fighting. May I have a volunteer?”

We all exchanged looks, wondering who would step up. I was intrigued, and probably would’ve volunteered myself, if Lloyd hadn’t beaten me to it.

“How about me?” he asked, standing up.

Nya grinned. “The Ultimate Battle: round two!”

I laughed at her words. “Go get ‘im, Lloyd!” I cheered.

Lloyd strutted confidently toward his father, making me desperately try to hold in my snickering.

Garmadon smiled at his son. “Attack me,” he instructed. “But please, no powers. I happen to like my monastery.”

The kids all laughed at that. Lloyd immediately raised his fist, charging straight for his father with a battle cry. His father stood still as he approached, then stepped aside at the last moment, missing Lloyd’s fist. Lloyd crashed against the shrine that had been right behind Garmadon, falling onto his knees.

“You see, the key is balance,” Garmadon told everyone watching. “Let your opponent fight himself.”

Lloyd quickly recovered, charging for his father again, this time from behind. Garmadon was ready, though, and easily sidestepped the attack again. Lloyd attacked his father again and again, but every time, Garmadon dodged each strike, barely moving from the same spot as his opponent grew more and more frustrated. Lloyd tried to leap at his father, but Garmadon ducked underneath him, making Lloyd tumble onto his back.

“Let the enemy tire himself,” Garmadon said.

I watched in anticipation as Lloyd got up again, leaping up and flying towards his father with a flying kick aimed at him. Garmadon simply yawned as his son approached, then once Lloyd was close, he rolled underneath him, making Lloyd miss him altogether. Unable to stop, Lloyd crashed into the pillar that had been behind Garmadon, landing on the floor with a groan. 

I cringed. _That’s gonna leave a mark…_

Garmadon smirked. “Pupils, I give you one of the most powerful ninja in all the land: the Golden Ninja!”

The kids all laughed loudly at Lloyd. Kai, Cole, and Jay facepalmed, shaking their heads. I shook my head, too, but I made sure that Lloyd didn’t see my smile. Despite the hit on his ego, it _had_ been kind of funny…

Lloyd picked himself up again, growling. My smile vanished, seeing how angry he looked. He put his hands together and began summoning his power, forming a green orb of energy in front of himself.

_Uh oh._ “Lloyd…” I warned.

Garmadon turned, seeing that Lloyd was reaching his boiling point. “Easy, son, it is only a lesson.”

Lloyd managed to calm down, his energy disappearing. “Sorry,” he apologized sheepishly. “I don’t know what got into me.”

“You let the anger take over,” his father explained, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I know that feeling well.” He then turned to the rest of us, raising his voice. “Now, let’s divide into groups.”

Everyone stood up, pairing off so we all could practice the art of the silent fist. Kai and Jay paired up, and Cole and Nya did the same. I, of course, went to Lloyd, grinning at him.

“Ready for me to kick your butt?” I asked him smugly. “Again?”

Lloyd smiled, raising an eyebrow. “Hang on, who won our last spar?”

“I did, of course,” I informed him smugly.

“No, I’m pretty sure I did,” Lloyd argued, smirking as we stood across from one another.

“You must be thinking of some other time.”

“Uh huh. Sure.”

The two of us readied ourselves, smiling confidently at each other. After a moment of doing nothing, I decided to attack first, leaping at Lloyd with my foot outstretched. Having learned from the fight he’d just had with his father, Lloyd sidestepped my kick, and I landed behind him. He then swung his fist at me, but I twisted out of the way, making him half stumble forward. I grinned; this whole “art of the silent fist” thing was really fun! I mean, let your opponent defeat themself while you did almost nothing? It was my new favorite fighting style.

Lloyd and I continued on back and forth like this. I was able to get him to fall on his face again, but he also made me trip over myself a couple times. The two of us were smiling the entire time, both having fun with learning this lesson.

At one point, we both attacked at the same time, then both also tried to dodge the other’s attack right afterward, resulting in an unfortunate mess that sent us both crashing to the ground. We landed on top of each other, both of us groaning from the impact. We then lifted our heads, and when our eyes met, we both burst out laughing at our shared blunder.

All the while, I didn’t notice Sensei Garmadon standing off to the side, watching the two of us with a knowing smile.

. . .

After the lesson was concluded, our group walked out of the monastery with Garmadon. As soon as we walked out the doors, we heard a loud scream. Fearing that we’d been discovered, we ran outside to see Zane walking up the path toward us. He carried the Techno Blades with him, and also had a prisoner trailing behind him. She looked like a female android of some sort.

“It’s Pixal!” Cole exclaimed as we all stopped. “But how did she find us?”

Kai growled as the two walked up to us. “How about we take her apart to find out?”

I rolled my eyes. _Always so violent…_

“Please, she was only doing what she was programmed to do,” Zane defended, stepping in front of Pixal. “She may hold many answers, but perhaps there is an easier way.” He picked up his Techno Blade, activating it. A white blade formed around the end of the gold handle.

Garmadon immediately protested. “No. I---”

“Ah, relax, ain’t a weapon,” Jay reassured him. “Only hacks into things.”

We watched as Zane gently touched the Techno Blade to Pixal’s head. She was enveloped in a frosty white glow, and when it vanished, her red eyes were now green. Her hostile expression was now gone, replaced with confusion.

“Where am I?” she inquired, looking around. “Why am I tied up?”

Zane walked over to her side. “You were under the control of the Overlord,” he explained, untying her as he spoke. “How did you find us?”

“They’ve mined Sensei Wu’s memory,” Pixal told him. “The Overlord knows all of your hiding places.”

I made a worried frown. _Well, that’s just great,_ I thought sarcastically. _I hope Sensei’s alright…_

Garmadon stepped forward, also looking very worried. “My brother. Is he… Is he okay?”

“Yes,” Pixal assured him. “But the Overlord wants your son, and the girl. Their golden and silver powers are the only way he can escape the digital realm and become real.”

Lloyd and I exchanged a concerned look. _So that’s why he wants us._ I gulped silently. _If he manifests into a physical form again, he’ll be a lot tougher to stop…_

“Why did Borg give us the Techno Blades to protect?” Kai asked, grabbing his blade. “Why are they so important?”

“Because together, they can reboot the system, wipe the master computer clean, and destroy the Overlord virus for good,” Pixal informed us.

Everyone made exclamations of awe. “Woah! Cool!”

Suddenly, Pixal gasped, as if realizing something.

“What is it?” I asked her.

“I didn’t come alone,” she announced.

Jay frowned. “Who else is with you?”

“Nindroids,” she informed us.

We all echoed her in confusion and shock. “Nindroids?!” I’d thought that Zane was the only Nindroid!

“Where are they?” Jay asked, looking around frantically. “I don’t see any of them.”

Everyone began turning in all directions, searching high and low for any signs of the Nindroids. After a few tense, silent moments, one finally appeared, materializing out of thin air on a rooftop. He chuckled darkly as we all gasped in surprise. Another Nindroid appeared next to us, then another, and then another. Soon, we were all completely surrounded by a circle of them.

“Six versus eighteen,” Pixal counted. “Probability of survival too low to quantify.”

Everyone ignored her, instead pulling up their masks and attacking. I charged straight at one of them, trying to punch it in the face, but it quickly dodged my fist. I didn’t let up, rapidly punching and kicking at it, but it was able to swiftly dodge my moves every single time. It grabbed my fist at one point, then kicked me, sending me stumbling backwards. I stared at it in surprise, growing both frustrated and very worried.

“These Nindroids are so much faster,” Jay pointed out, struggling with one nearby.

“No kidding,” I mumbled to myself. Steeling my resolve, I attacked again, urging myself to move faster. I sprinted at a different Nindroid than before, catching it off guard as I feinted a punch and kicked him instead. The first one came up behind me, trying to grab me, but I backflipped over his head, kicking it as I landed. He fell on his face, making me chuckle.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Lloyd nearby, kicking a Nindroid off of the small cliff. He then put his hands together, starting to form an orb of energy between them. I immediately scurried over to him, gently pushing his hands down.

“Lloyd, we can’t!” I reminded him. “Our powers only strengthen them.” Like that was fair. But sadly, that was how things were right now.

Lloyd’s energy vanished, and he sighed reluctantly. “Right...”

Spotting a group of Nindroids surrounding Zane down below, Lloyd and I both leapt into the air, falling toward them. As we both cried “Ninja, go!” we spun into our gold and silver Spinjitzu tornadoes, landing amidst the Nindroids and knocking them all away. Lloyd grabbed Zane, who was dazed, and lifted him up. I fought off any other Nindroids who tried to approach us.

Just as we were gaining the upper hand against the Nindroids, a dozen more appeared from over the waterfall, flying down towards us as they cackled in triumph.

“We need to get out of here!” Nya shouted.

Lloyd and I helped Zane as we all scurried back inside the monastery, the Nindroids pursuing us close behind. We ran upstairs, grabbing Misako along the way, and up to a small wooden balcony that overlooked the houses.

“Anyone wanna clear a path?” Jay asked as we stopped.

“Yeah, I’ve got an idea,” Cole announced.

Soon, we were all climbing into the nearby waterwheel. Once everyone was inside, Cole knocked it loose, sending the wheel rolling out into the streets. Nindroids in its path were quickly crushed or knocked away as the waterwheel eventually rolled over the gate and into the woods. When we’d rolled up to where the boys’ vehicles were hidden, they all quickly set them on autopilot, making them take off and speed away into the night. The Nindroids pursued after them, not knowing that we weren’t inside.

I snorted as I crawled out of the waterwheel. _Unconventional, but effective._

“It won’t be long until they figured out we used autopilot,” Cole stated as we regrouped. “We should get a move on.”

“I’m coming with you,” Garmadon announced. “If the Overlord wants my son, I’m not letting him out of my sight.”

Misako smiled. “I’ll stay and look after the monastery.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Misako started walking back in the direction we’d come, and the rest of us got ready to head out.

“Wait,” Lloyd interjected, making everyone halt. “If he wants me and Aurora, and the Techno Blades are the only thing that can stop him, shouldn’t we split up? Just in case?”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, good idea. His forces will also be divided that way.”

“Zane’s falcon knows the secret location of my Samurai X cave,” Nya told us. “You three go and take what you need to get as far away from us as possible.”

“Secret cave?” Jay asked her before I could. “I thought we knew everything about each other.”

Nya smirked. “Well, a girl’s gotta have her secrets. Right, Aurora?”

I snickered, exchanging a high-five with her. “You’d better believe it.”

“What are you guys gonna do?” Lloyd asked. “Those Nindroids aren’t gonna let you step one foot into the city.”

“Yeah, Nya, what _are_ we gonna do?” Jay asked, frowning.

Nya smiled. “We’re gonna shut down the power.”

. . .

After parting ways with the others and wishing them luck, Lloyd, Sensei Garmadon, and I all hurried out of the forest and into a canyon, following Zane’s falcon. The mechanical bird soared above us, leading us onward to where Nya’s secret cave was. Despite our situation, I was excited to see it for myself. I knew that she must have all sorts of cool vehicles and gadgets in there.

Thankfully, we didn’t have to travel for too long. The falcon soon led us to what looked like a giant skeleton of a dragon, half-buried in the sand. It landed on top of a bone, and as we ran up, I spotted a small button on one of the ribs, a familiar symbol imprinted onto it.

“The Samurai X symbol,” Lloyd announced, walking up and pressing the button.

The skeleton’s mouth opened, opening a secret hatch inside of it at the same time. Lloyd and I exchanged an excited smile, venturing down into the dark passageway, Garmadon close behind. The falcon flew to us, and I held out an arm for him to land on. I smiled at him, then watched my step as we descended the stairs into the dimly lit passage. It was a long stairwell, but at least it was well air-conditioned.

Soon, we arrived at a pair of automatic doors. They slid open as we approached, revealing a massive cave filled with bright walkways and multiple platforms for each of Nya’s samurai gear and vehicles. A massive computer sat on the middle platform, and the three of us walked towards it, gazing around the cave in awe and wonder.

“Whoa!” Lloyd exclaimed, clearly as impressed as I was. His voice echoed off the walls.

“When did Nya even find the time to do this?!” I exclaimed, completely stunned by how amazing this secret base was.

Lloyd nudged me. “Maybe we should’ve been samurai instead,” he said, making me laugh.

The three of us walked to the center platform where the computer was. A large object was covered by a red sheet, and Garmadon tugged it off to reveal a super cool vehicle. It also looked like it was meant for battle.

Garmadon sighed. “Why must everything have so many weapons?”

“Says the man who had four arms to possess the Golden Weapons,” Lloyd quipped, smirking at his father.

  
I snickered, following Lloyd over to the vehicle. “Ah, he’s got you there,” I told Garmadon with a smirk.

The sensei chuckled in embarrassment. “Yes. I deserved that...”

Lloyd and I stepped up onto the vehicle; there was a driver’s seat inside and one passenger seat behind it, as well as a third seat connected to the large cannon on the vehicle’s outside. Lloyd opened the hatch that covered the two seats inside. As he was about to climb into the driver’s seat, his father reached out and stopped him.

“I swore off fighting---not driving,” he said, an excited smile creeping onto his face.

As he climbed into the driver’s seat, Lloyd gestured for me to take the seat behind his father, eagerly climbing up to the seat of the cannon on the top. I let the falcon fly away before the hatch closed so he could follow us from the skies. Once we were all situated, Garmadon started the vehicle and took off, zooming down a large corridor and out of another secret entrance, back into the sunlight. He steered the vehicle up an elevated rock, making us fly over the cliffs.

“Yee-haw!” he cheered in joy. I had to laugh at his enthusiasm.

“Where to now?” Lloyd asked.

“As far away as possible,” his father replied.

. . .

The three of us drove all day, putting as much distance between ourselves and New Ninjago City as possible. I assumed that we’d covered a lot of ground---mostly because Lloyd’s father turned out to have a lead foot. It made for an enjoyable ride, I’ll say that much.

Nighttime soon fell once again, and we all decided to make a stop to rest and stretch our legs. Garmadon pulled over next to a river that ran through a collection of hills, each lined with terrace crops. While Lloyd and I went down to the riverbank to get a drink, Garmadon chilled in the vehicle, laying back in his seat. The serene quiet of this place seemed to calm us all, despite our current situation.

As I sipped the water that was pooled in my hands, I was left to my loud thoughts. _I wonder where the others are now. Have they shut down the power yet? Are they safe? Are they in the city? Did they find Sensei Wu? Will they be able to take down an army of Nindroids?_

I shook my head at myself. _There you go again, worrying about everyone who isn’t with you._ The others would be just fine. Besides, we’d all faced “unbeatable” foes before. We’d once thought that the Stone Army was unbeatable, but now they were toast! There was no way that these Nindroids were as tough as those guys had been, right? Hopefully, anyway…

I glanced over at Lloyd. He seemed to be deep in thought, too. I knew that he probably wasn’t too happy about running away from our enemies. Honestly, neither was I---but sadly, it had to be done. At least this way, we were still defying the Overlord and making his life harder. Still...it sucked that we couldn’t use the amazing powers we’d been given against him.

I sighed. _I hate feeling defeated like this… I need to cheer up._ Collecting more water in my cupped hands, I started bringing it up to my face, when I stopped. An idea formed in my mind, and a mischievous smirk spread over my face as I looked over at Lloyd. He was still occupied with drinking the water, not paying attention to me. I seized my moment, and flung the water right into his face.

As Lloyd sputtered and coughed in surprise, I used all my willpower to not burst out laughing at him. Instead, I put on an innocent face as his head whirled in my direction. He stared at me in shock and confusion, water dripping off his face.

“Oops, sorry,” I said, in a tone that clearly told him I’d done it on purpose.

Lloyd realized that I was playing around, and his confusion was replaced with a smirk. He then swiftly dipped his hand into the river and sent a small wave of water straight into my face.

I gasped, spitting the water out as Lloyd snickered at me. “Oops, sorry,” he mimicked me.

I grinned. “Oh, it’s on, now!”

I flung more water at him, and he retaliated in the same way. Soon we were both engaged in a playful water battle, splashing each other in the face with the river water. The two of us were laughing loudly the entire time, and I squeaked a few times at how cold the water was when it splashed onto my face. Our fight was incredibly silly, and it was one of those moments where I truly felt like a little kid again.

Eventually, we both stopped, out of breath from laughing so much. Our faces and most of our hair was soaking wet, but we didn’t care. We sat next to each other, still giggling here and there as we both used our sleeves to dry off our faces. For a long moment, I just sat there, smiling at Lloyd, and he did the same with me. I loved laughing with him; whenever we laughed together, it felt like the best laugh ever.

Gee. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep my feelings to myself...

The moment was interrupted when something caught Lloyd’s attention in the water. He gasped, and I followed his gaze to see a reflection in the water. It was a mechanical, flying beast of some sort---and it was headed straight for us.

“Crap!” I exclaimed, leaping to my feet.

“We need to go!” Garmadon shouted at us. “Now!”

Lloyd and I scurried over to the vehicle, immediately flipping into our seats as the robotic dragon closed in. I buckled myself in while Garmadon frantically pushed the start button.

“Come on!” he yelled when the vehicle was experiencing difficulties. “Start!”

I stared out the window up at the mechanical beast, a shiver going down my spine as it roared at us. _Um… Is it just me, or does that dragon-robot thing bear a resemblance to the Overlord’s original form?_ Did he think that highly of himself? ...Yeah, of course he did.

Lloyd, meanwhile, decided he’d had enough and used his energy to make the vehicle come to life. The engine started up, and as soon as it did, Garmadon hit the gas. He steered it into a U-turn, the tires screeching as we zoomed away from the beast as fast as possible. Even at our full speed, though, the robot beast was slowly closing the distance between us. I turned around in my seat, watching it as it slowly caught up.

“Argh! He’s gaining on us!” Lloyd shouted from the outside.

“Well maybe this thing has an afterburner,” his father suggested. He pressed a button, thinking it was such a thing, but it made the cannon Lloyd was sitting in turn around and fire a single shot at the beast. Sadly, it flew out of harm’s way in time. “Curse these weapons…” I heard Garmadon mumble from the driver’s seat.

I sat sideways in my seat so I could watch the mechanical beast. Unlike our vehicle, it turned out to have afterburners, as two rocket boosters appeared on its sides. It rapidly flew toward us, closing the distance between us at an even faster rate. I felt helpless as I watched it rapidly gain on us.

Garmadon drove the vehicle down a lot of twists and turns, trying to lose the beast, but it stayed on us persistently. Soon, it drew close to us, lowering itself onto our level on our right.

“Look out!” I shouted in alarm.

The mechanical dragon swooped down over us. It nearly took Lloyd’s head off with a spinning blade on its wing, almost giving me a heart attack in the process. It ascended into the air again, staying right on top of us no matter how fast we went.

“This is why I took an oath of peace!” Garmadon exclaimed in frustration.

I watched as the mechanical beast closed in again, looking to deal a final blow this time. Just as I was about to leap out of the vehicle and shoot it with a blast of light, a transparent blue shockwave appeared out of nowhere, enveloping us as it passed through. It made our vehicle start to shut down, but the robot beast also began to spark and malfunction. Then, it shut down completely, crashing to the ground ahead of us as dead weight. Garmadon slammed on the breaks, stopping the vehicle before it could hit the fallen beast.

The three of us started cheering in triumph, glad that the danger was over. _The others must’ve taken out the power! And not a moment too soon._ Cutting it close, as always. I shouldn’t have expected anything less.

We climbed out of the vehicle, walking over to the wrecked mechanical dragon. It was a lot larger up close, and I grew a little intimidated. If the Overlord created this and the Nindroids, what else could he create?

The clouds grew dark overhead, and I heard a thunderstorm rolling in above us. The three of us stood atop the beast, looking in the direction of the city.

“Do you think it’s safe to go back?” Lloyd wondered.

“They may have turned off the power, but they still need to reboot the system,” Garmadon reminded him. He led me and Lloyd off the wreckage and onto the path. “Until we know the Overlord is gone for good, we need to keep moving.”

I sighed as we began walking away from the city and into the sunrise. “Time for another road trip…”


	3. Episode 30: Blackout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the road again, as we're forced to run away from our problems.
> 
> But on the bright side, we get to learn how to move mountains!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 is here! This one is shorter unfortunately, but this episode only gave me so much to write. However, the next few chapters... Oh boy, they'll definitely make up for it. I'm not sure you guys are ready. XD
> 
> Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoy!  
> \-------------------

“We underestimate the importance of balance.”

I tried my best to listen to Garmadon’s words of wisdom while I also focused on the task at hand. Even though we were on the run, the new sensei never missed an opportunity to teach. Right now, Lloyd and I stood at the base of a mountain, carrying impossibly tall stacks of rocks on our backs. Garmadon was above us on a ledge, slowly adding more and more rocks to the towers. I grunted with each one that was added, struggling to keep them all balanced on my back. It was difficult, but I was determined. Plus, it wasn’t as hard as that time when I was still ten, when I’d held up most of the ninja using only my feet.

The falcon, meanwhile, flew around us in the sky. Keeping watch, but also enjoying the high altitude.

“When it’s there, we’re at peace,” Garmadon continued. “If something is off, everything falls. Ninjago is no different. It put too much faith in technology, allowing the Overlord to return. And because of your friends, now the world is without power. When one relies on something too much, we become weak, vulnerable, imbalanced.”

I made a noise of understanding. “So what you’re saying is that we shouldn’t rely on our powers all the time?”

“Precisely,” he replied from above. “In order to find your full potential and unlock your true powers, you both must find your own balance.”

Lloyd groaned. “I’m already the Gold Ninja, and Aurora’s the Silver Ninja. How much more power do we need?”

“You’ve only scratched the surface,” his father informed him. “You both have the potential to move mountains. The power of the first Spinjitzu master.”

_Move mountains?_ We could do that? I was awed at the idea. _Lloyd and I already have great power, but now you’re telling me we’ve barely scratched the surface of it?_

“The ninja destroyed the power station, essentially destroying the Overlord and his Nindroids,” Lloyd reminded his father. “Why can’t we go back?”

“Essentially?” Garmadon echoed. I saw him heaving up a huge rock, and I gulped. “Until the Overlord is fully erased from the system, we must not go back, but forward.”

He tossed the giant rock onto Lloyd’s tower. The heavy weight immediately made him lose control, dropping all of the rocks as his legs crumpled beneath him. Since we were standing close together, some of his falling rocks hit my stack, and it caused me to lose my balance, too. My rocks were sent toppling down, and I cried out in surprise as a lot of them fell on top of me.

“Ow,” I grunted.

“If you can’t move mountains, I guess we’ll have to move over mountains,” Garmadon announced.

With a shout, Lloyd spun around, breaking free of the rocks covering him. I simply just climbed out from beneath mine, brushing the dust off of my ninja gi and stretching my sore arms.

“Oh, yeah?” Lloyd asked his father, sounding annoyed.

Garmadon hopped off the ledge, landing next to us. He pointed toward the tall mountain that lied ahead of us. “And this next one looks particularly steep.”

The three of us set off, slowly ascending the steep mountain. Zane’s falcon flew overhead, remaining our guide and our companion. His occasional squacks were comforting in the otherwise quiet atmosphere. The air around us was foggy, but not necessarily spooky. Oddly, it made me feel hidden and safe. We were so far from New Ninjago City now---it would be quite a while before the Overlord found us, that was for sure.

As we hiked up the mountain path, I found myself walking next to Lloyd as we followed his father. We traveled in silence for a while, but eventually, Lloyd spoke up.

“Hey, Rose?” he asked in a soft voice.

“What’s up?” I inquired, facing him with a smile.

“What were you gonna say earlier?”

I made a confused expression. “Uh… Can you elaborate?”

“Back on the rooftop, right before this all happened,” Lloyd explained. “You were about to tell me something. You said it had been on your mind for a while.”

My stomach dropped, and it took a lot of effort to just keep walking and not freeze right there on the spot. _Oh no…_ I’d been secretly hoping that he wouldn’t ask about it, but here we were. Just my luck that he would ask me about it when the moment wasn’t right anymore.

“Well, uh…” What the heck was I supposed to say? I couldn’t confess to him right now! Especially not with his father nearby, within earshot. That would be so awkward. “I...just wanted to…” _Come on, Aurora, think!_ An idea soon came to mind. “I just wanted to tell you, uh...how much I miss Ultra-Dragon! That’s all.”

Lloyd frowned. “Oh...?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed, pushing my nerves away as I answered him. “I’ve just been thinking about him a lot lately, and I miss him.”

As I tried to make a small smile, I noticed that Lloyd didn’t seem entirely convinced or satisfied with my answer. However, much to my relief, he shrugged it off and nodded. “Yeah. I miss him, too. But don’t be sad; he’s happy where he is.”

I nodded in return. “Right. I keep telling myself that.”

I actually had been thinking about Ultra-Dragon lately, so that wasn’t really a lie. Lloyd and I had to say goodbye to him not too long after we’d defeated the Overlord, and I still grew a little sad every time I thought of him. But that’s a story for another day.

At one point, the three of us came across a wide gap. There was a bridge, but it had long since been broken, the remains of it hanging off either side of the cliffs. We walked up to the edge, and I peered down into the foggy abyss below.

Lloyd nudged me, smiling. “Hey, who needs bridges when you can manifest a golden dragon to---”

Garmadon lifted up a hand, cutting his son off. “You rely too much on your golden power. Let this be a lesson. Center yourself, and move the mountain with your mind.”

Lloyd gawked at him. “What?! Move _that_? Are you kidding?” He turned around and began walking back the way we came.

I snorted at him. “Come on, Lloyd. You should know by now that anything is possible, if we put our minds to it. I think you can do it.”

Garmadon walked up behind Lloyd, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Listen to her, son. Find your balance. Concentrate.”

Lloyd turned back around with a sigh, walking over to the edge. He lifted a hand, pointing it towards the other side. He began focusing, grunting as he strained himself. I silently cheered him on. After a few seconds, one of the peaks on the other side broke apart into a jumble of rocks, and Lloyd lifted them into the air. I smiled as he slowly brought them down, grunting loudly as he started to form a bridge with the rocks. Just before he could form the bridge, though, he lost control of the rocks. They stopped in midair, then exploded, knocking the three of us backward.

“This is pointless,” Lloyd exclaimed as we all stood back up. “Especially when I can do this...” He leapt upward, summoning the golden dragon and flying over the gap. The dragon breathed golden fire, creating a shimmering golden bridge between the cliffs. Lloyd chuckled in delight, hopping off the dragon as it vanished and landing on his newly-created bridge. “I’m not the first Spinjitzu master, and I never wanted to be. I’m the Golden Ninja!” He spun around, striking a pose before heading across to the other side.

Garmadon and I exchanged a look, the two of us shaking our heads. Using the golden dragon and our amazing powers was the easy way to do things, of course… But I agreed with Garmadon when he said that we shouldn’t rely on our golden and silver powers for everything.

After all, one day, we might not have them anymore.

The old sensei facepalmed, sighing. “I know, I was once like this, too,” he muttered.

“He’ll come around,” I assured him, giving him a smile before following Lloyd across the golden bridge.

We all resumed our hike up the mountain. Not too long after crossing that gap, another one showed up in our path. It was all that remained between us and a full-on vertical climb, as the path ended right after it.

“Another broken bridge?” Lloyd asked incredulously.

I hurried up to the edge. I judged the distance between here and the other side, then smiled. “Ooh, can I try it this time?” I asked, excited.

Garmadon nodded. “By my guest.”

I was about to reach my hand out, when Lloyd stopped me. “We can just make another bridge using the dragon, Aurora,” he pointed out.

“I wanna try it this way, Lloyd,” I replied. “Let me try. Please?”

Lloyd, knowing that he couldn’t resist my puppy face, sighed. “Okay,” he agreed, taking a step back.

Grinning, I turned back to the gap between the cliffs, excited to try and move a mountain. I outstretched my hand, focusing on one section of the cliff and closing my eyes, concentrating. I recalled the first time I’d used the power of earth, when Lloyd and I had broken all those wooden boards in Dareth’s dojo. I dug deep within myself, feeling the rock beneath me and connecting with it. I closed my hand slightly, and heard a cracking noise, like the rock nearby was breaking. I grunted with the effort, picturing a bridge made of rock in my mind. Moving my hand to point at the gap before me, I gritted my teeth together, determined to move the rock to form a bridge and let nothing distract me.

It felt like no time at all had passed when I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder. “Open your eyes.”

I did what he said and opened my previously clenched eyes, gasping at what I saw before me. I’d been focusing so hard that I hadn’t even noticed the bridge had already formed in front of me! It was a little rugged, but the rocks I’d broken off the mountain had formed a flat bridge to the other side.

“Whoa,” I exclaimed, smiling as I dropped my hand. _I actually did it!_

“You did it, Aurora!” Lloyd praised, clearly impressed.

Garmadon smiled, walking up next to me, his hand still on my shoulder. “Well done, Aurora. I’d say that you found your inner balance.”

I chuckled shyly at all the praise. _If I can do this, what else can I do?_ I wondered.

The three of us crossed the bridge I’d created. Once we were all on the other side, I waved my hand back at it, causing the rocks to crumble again and fall down into the fog below.

“How do you make it look so easy?” Lloyd asked me.

“Trust me, it’s anything but easy,” I told him, falling into step beside him as we continued onward. “Are you jealous?” I teased him, smirking.

Lloyd huffed, shaking his head. “No...” I could tell that he was, if only a little bit.

The path ended, and the only way up now was to vertically ascend the cliffs that towered above us. The three of us began climbing, scaling the rock face of the mountain. I was already tired from hiking for so long and making that bridge, but we still had a ways to go. I ignored my fatigue, telling myself that the more distance we put between ourselves and the Overlord, the better it would be for everyone else.

I resisted the urge to look down the further up we climbed. At one point, Lloyd accidentally stepped on a loose piece of rock, making it break off the cliff and fall onto his father, who was below us. When he grunted, we both looked down at him.

“Wish you still had four hands?” Lloyd joked, smiling. “It would’ve come in handy.”

I paused, facepalming and shaking my head at him. “You… You did _not_ just say that.”

Garmadon frowned. “Your potential is great… _Not_ your sense of humor.”

“Yeah, I agree with him,” I told Lloyd. “Please, please never make that pun again.”

Lloyd chuckled at our comments. He looked down at his father once more. “Still won’t let us use the golden dragon?”

“Still won’t,” Garmadon replied. He climbed up to our level, stopping between the two of us. “If you want to harness the power of the first Spinjitzu master like Aurora did, you must focus on your balance...and find your center.” He began climbing ahead of us again.

I was about to follow him, when I heard a quiet squawking---not from the falcon. I looked up to see the edge of a nest peeking out over a ledge. After exchanging a glance with Lloyd, the two of us climbed up to it, finding a small blue bird inside. It turned to look at us curiously, its beady yellow eye studying us.

I giggled, waving at it. “Hello, little guy,” I greeted him.

Lloyd frowned, looking up at his father, who had climbed onto the peak above us. “Uh...Dad?”

Garmadon peered over the edge, spotting what we had found. “A Ravture youngling,” he alerted us in a cautious tone. “Don’t touch him. It needs to learn how to fly on its own. Keep climbing, slowly.”

Lloyd and I did as we were told, resuming our ascent toward the mountain peak. The Ravture youngling continued to squawk as we climbed, walking to the edge of the nest. Suddenly, it misstepped, and toppled over the edge.

I gasped in shock, while Lloyd acted immediately. He lunged over to it, dropping down and grabbing the youngling by the leg and stopping it from falling. I breathed out a sigh of relief---but then I remembered what Garmadon just told us.

“What have you done?” he shouted down at his son. “It’s going to know someone has touched its young!”

“It? Who?” Lloyd asked nervously, holding the Ravture youngling and climbing back into the nest.

Garmadon replied with one single word. “Daddy.”

The next moment, a loud squawk sounded from above. I looked up to see a larger Ravture approaching us. This one was definitely an adult---and it was definitely angry.

I gulped. “Oh boy…” What had Lloyd gotten us into now?

“He was gonna fall,” Lloyd defended. “I was trying to help.”

“Unless you speak Ravture, there’s no use trying to explain,” Garmadon informed him. He hopped off the peak, and I followed him, landing beside him and Lloyd inside the large nest. “Hurry! We need to climb to shelter.” He looked around frantically, searching for a safe spot. “There!” He pointed to a sheltered ledge below us, and immediately began scaling the cliff, heading for it. I tried to decide whether to follow him or stay with Lloyd.

The Ravture daddy swooped down straight for us, flying overhead. Lloyd and I ducked to avoid his talons. Lloyd lost his grip on the youngling, but luckily caught it before it could fall over the edge again.

“You’re not gonna fall on my watch,” Lloyd told the baby bird.

“Your compassion is not helping,” his father grumbled from the cliff.

The Ravture daddy came back around for another attack. This time, however, it went straight for Garmadon. It reached for him with its talons, making him let go of the cliff to avoid becoming a kebab. He fell down, making my heart drop.

“No!” I yelled.

“Dad!” Lloyd exclaimed at the same time.

Wasting no time, I flipped out of the nest, grabbing onto the cliff. “Hang on, Mr. Garmadon! I’m coming!” I carefully slid down the cliff face toward him; he had managed to catch himself on a rock that was jutting out of the mountainside. Lloyd slowly followed me, still holding onto the Ravture youngling. I slid to a stop above Garmadon, almost losing my balance but recovering. I reached a hand down for him to grab onto.

Garmadon reached up, grabbing onto my hand with his free one. “I take it back. I _do_ want my four hands!”

As I struggled to pull him up, I saw a green flash out of the corner of my eye. I looked up to see Lloyd summoning a green orb of energy with his free hand.

“No!” His father immediately protested. “Do not use your power as a crutch. It will only weaken you.” He then looked off to the left, frowning. “He’s circling back!”

I glanced at the approaching angry bird, made a panicked noise, then doubled my efforts to pull Garmadon to safety. If I wasn’t perched precariously on the side of a cliff, and able to use both hands, it would’ve been much easier for me. I used all my strength, wishing I had super strength like Cole. “Almost there…”

Just as I was about to pull him up to safety, the Ravture was upon us. It snatched Garmadon in its beak, and since I was still holding onto his hand, I was yanked away from the cliff with him. I suddenly found myself dangling over a vast abyss of fog, flying through the air with only Garmadon’s hand to hold onto. I shrieked in terror, grabbing onto his arm with both hands as the Ravture flew off with us both. _Normally I enjoy flying, but not like this!_

I heard Lloyd screaming. “Aurora! Dad! No!” I spotted him still on the mountain, and saw him summon an orb of energy again. He shot it straight at the Ravture, hitting it on its tail. It screeched in pain, immediately dropping me and Garmadon.

“Aaaaaaaaah!” I yelled as I plummeted through the air with nothing to stop me.

“Son!” Garmadon shouted as we fell.

I watched as Lloyd grew further and further away, falling through the air toward the foggy clouds below. I clenched my eyes shut, desperately wishing that I could summon the golden dragon on my own---but I couldn't. I’d already tried a long time ago. _This can’t be how it ends, right?_

I should’ve known that wouldn’t be the case. There was a sudden rumbling noise from somewhere below, and my back suddenly hit a surface, way too soon the be the ground. I opened my eyes and gasped; an entire mountain had caught me and Garmadon! It slowly lifted us back up into the air, taking the form of a giant hand. I glanced up at the other mountain, seeing Lloyd lifting his hands up. He’d done it!

I laughed in delight. “No way! You did it!”

“You just moved a mountain, son,” Garmadon said as we reached Lloyd’s level, sounding very proud of his son.

“Nice job! I knew you could do it!” I cheered.

Lloyd opened his clenched eyes, smiling at us. He also looked very proud. Then, the Ravture youngling suddenly lost its footing, falling off the mountain.

“No!” Lloyd cried, reaching out for it. He shut his eyes again, trying to quickly bring up another mountain to save the little guy.

However, he didn’t have to. The youngling began flapping its wings, then stopped falling. It was flying now, flapping around in a circle and ceasing its terrified cries. I breathed a sigh of relief. Lloyd opened his eyes, smiling when he saw the youngling flying on its own.

“Looks like you’re not the only one who’s grown up,” Garmadon told him with a smile.

The three of us watched the Ravture daddy and his youngling reunite, laughing amongst ourselves. They touched their beaks together, then flew off into the sky, off to start the next chapter of their lives.

Smiling, I took a few steps backward, then ran to the edge of the rock hand. I leapt off of it, playfully somersaulting through the air and gracefully landing on the ledge where Lloyd was. “And she sticks the landing!” I exclaimed, giggling.

Lloyd walked over to me, and to my surprise, pulled me into a hug. “Are you okay?” he asked.

I chuckled, pleasantly surprised by the sudden embrace as well as his concern for me. “I’m fine, Lloyd,” I assured him, smiling. “Thanks to you.”

My best friend returned my smile as he pulled away. I saw huge amounts of relief in his eyes; had he really been that worried about me?

_He’s probably relieved that his father’s okay, too._ Yeah, that was it.

After Garmadon rejoined us on the ledge, Lloyd turned to our right. He used his newfound ability to create a zigzagging staircase in the side of the mountain, providing an easy path for us down the other side of the tall mountain. After climbing the precarious cliffs all day, it was a welcome relief.

Lloyd stepped to the side, gesturing for his father to go first. “After you.”

Garmadon walked onto the stairs, and Lloyd and I followed him.

“Awesome,” I said, very impressed by the stairs Lloyd had made.

“I know, I _am_ pretty awesome,” Lloyd boasted playfully.

I snickered, softly elbowing him as he laughed. Before the three of us could go very far, we heard the falcon’s familiar cry from behind us. We stopped as it swooped down, landing in front of us. It chirped, its eyes now glowing blue.

“Hey, the ninja have sent a message,” Lloyd announced.

I smiled. “I hope everything’s okay…”

A holographic image appeared from the falcon’s eyes, creating a life-sized image of Nya before us. Her frown immediately told me that everything was in fact not okay.

“ _Lloyd, Aurora, we’ve got some bad news_ ,” she announced. “ _We had a run-in with a mysterious someone who found a new way to power Nindroids._ ”

Jay’s image popped up for a moment in her place. “ _And he turned Sensei Wu evil!_ ” he exclaimed hysterically. “ _He had a black beard!_ ”

My heart sank at the terrible news. “What…?” How the heck could they turn Sensei Wu evil?

Nya’s image came back again. “ _We have a suspicion that this person may have stolen the hard drive containing the Overlord, and has reawakened him._ ”

Kai popped up in her place this time. “ _And now that the hard drive has gone missing, we can’t reboot the system_ ,” he explained, clearly frustrated. “ _Our Techno Blades are useless!_ ”

Nya returned once again. “ _But the stranger left a clue_ ,” she announced. “ _A white scale_.” An image of said scale popped up. 

I studied it; it definitely looked familiar. _Hang on_. I realized what it was. _That scale looks like it came from...a snake._ _You’ve gotta be kidding me…_

“ _That’s right, we think it may be Serpentine_ ,” Nya told us, as if reading my mind. “ _We’re heading to New Ninjago City to get to the bottom of this. Thought you should know so you can keep your distance. Hope you’re all faring better than we are. We’ll stay in contact if we learn anything new. Over and out._ ”

Her holographic image vanished, and the falcon’s eyes stopped glowing. The three of us all exchanged worried looks.

“Serpentine?” Lloyd echoed worriedly.

I shook my head, sighing. “ _Why_ did it have to be Serpentine?”

“We must not go back, but forward,” Garmadon reminded us. He pointed ahead to what lay beyond the bottom of the mountain: a vast jungle, blanketed with fog and filled with tall green trees as far as the eye could see. It stretched all the way to the horizon, and I couldn’t see an end to it. “Hiroshi’s Labyrinth,” he said. “Miles of jungle so dense, all who enter are never found. We must not rest.”

I nodded in agreement. If we were looking for a place to hide, then that jungle was our best chance. There was no way that the Overlord would easily find us there...right?

Lloyd and I exchanged a look of determination. “Okay,” Lloyd stated, sharing a smile with me. “Let’s get lost.”


	4. Episode 31: The Curse of the Golden Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when you think you're safe...they strike.
> 
> Why can't we catch a break?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, this is getting posted a bit later than I intended---but as long as it comes out on Wednesday, no harm done! You guys know what's about to happen here, but I threw in some fluff to lighten the mood before stuff happens!
> 
> There were many, many ways I considered writing this chapter, and I eventually decided on this one. It wasn't the most interesting route, but it allows something amazing to happen in the next chapter, I promise. I hope you guys enjoy!  
> \---------------------

Sensei Garmadon, once again, was right. If you were looking for somewhere to truly get lost in, Hiroshi’s Labyrinth was the perfect place for it. The jungle trees towered over us, creating a thick canopy that only allowed a few beams of sunlight to filter through. Even down here, there was thin fog overhead, making the branches and vines above and around us appear a little ominous. The trees and countless flora all over the ground had the largest leaves I’d ever seen on a plant, and it was a bit of a struggle to make our way through them. I was sure that we’d been walking for hours already, but there seemed to be no end in sight.

Even though the jungle was a bit intimidating, it still had its serene side. There was wildlife all around us; bugs sitting on leaves and fluttering about, birds chirping high above us in the trees... I was on alert, listening for anything that didn’t sound like an animal, but the nature around us made me feel calm as well.

Lloyd sighed tiredly as he and I continued to push through the giant leaves that sprouted all around us. “How anyone got through this jungle is beyond me.”

I smiled. “Probably with great determination---and a sword or two.”

“Hiroshi’s Labyrinth,” Garmadon said. “Legend says no one has ever escaped its deadly maze, except for Hiroshi himself. But the maze is no match for your powers. This is the perfect place to hide from the Overlord’s clutches.”

Lloyd frowned, stopping for a minute. “Hide. That’s all Aurora and I ever seem to do.”

Garmadon turned around to face us. “Your golden and silver powers only strengthen his cause,” he reminded us. “We must not lose sight.”

I sighed, looking down. “I miss our friends…”

“Me, too,” Lloyd agreed. “What good is being all-powerful if we can’t ever have fun?”

His father sighed tiredly. “The golden power needs to be protected, honored---so does the silver power. Evil forces will seek them, try to take both for their own. Power seduces. Even your friends may one day covet it.”

Lloyd and I looked up at him, surprised by his words.

“Our friends would never hurt us,” Lloyd insisted.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “They would never try and take our powers.” I knew that the guys were at least a bit jealous of our golden and silver powers, but that didn’t mean they would ever hunt us down and steal it from us like the Overlord was doing now.

“He who holds the power has a tremendous obligation,” Garmadon stated. “You both must be prepared to handle this journey alone. Even without each other...and even without me, one day.”

Lloyd and I exchanged crestfallen looks. I knew how much the both of us hated being alone---it had been one of the reasons we’d become friends so fast. The thought of having to fight alone, without my friends or even without Lloyd by my side… It was hard to think about.

“Yeah, we know,” Lloyd muttered, answering for both of us.

Garmadon gave us an encouraging smile. “Keep your chins up, you two.” He gestured to the vast jungle surrounding us. “Legend also states there is a jewel inside the maze---the most beautiful oasis no one has seen before.” He smirked in excitement. “Perhaps we will be the first.”

**. . .**

Pushing aside giant leaves became second nature to me as the three of us journeyed through the endless jungle. Honestly, it was hard to tell if we were going in circles or not; the scenery looked the same all around. I also was a little more tired than normal; I hadn’t been able to sleep for very long last night when we’d made camp. I guess I was too paranoid that the Overlord would find us again.

Despite all this, however, I did my best to remain alert for danger and stay positive. Chatting with Lloyd and his father along the way helped out with that. The three of us talked about anything that came to mind to help pass the time as we made our way through the maze of trees. 

_I really hope that we find that “jewel of the labyrinth," and soon_ , I thought. _Maybe then, we can just relax there and not have to keep running anymore._ We definitely could use the break from traveling nonstop, that was for sure.

“Who do you think that Serpentine could be? The one that’s helping the Overlord?” I wondered aloud.

Lloyd shrugged. “I’m not sure. What tribe of Serpentine has white scales?”

I hummed in thought. “Some Fangpyre have white scales, if I recall…”

“A few of the Hypnobrai had white scales, too,” Lloyd added. “Or...were they gray?”

I frowned at the thought. “It had better not be Skales up to his old tricks again,” I grumbled, “or I swear I’ll punch him right in the face.”

Lloyd chuckled at my words, evoking a smile from me.

“I’m sure that whoever it is, your friends will find them,” Garmadon assured us.

He was right, I knew. It was just curious to think about who the mystery snake could be, especially since we hadn’t had any trouble from the Serpentine for a while. We hadn’t even _seen_ one in months.

At least it wasn’t Pythor. He was long gone, much to my relief.

The three of us kept trekking through the labyrinth. The day seemed to be stretching on forever, and I found myself eagerly awaiting the time we would stop and set up camp for the night. I stepped over rocks and roots, telling myself to just keep moving, when I suddenly heard a strange noise. Immediately, I halted, putting an arm out beside me. Lloyd and his father, who had been walking behind me, stopped abruptly behind my arm.

“What is it?” Lloyd asked me.

My eyebrows furrowed, and I strained my ears to try and hear the sound again. “I heard something…”

“Is it a Nindroid?” Garmadon guessed.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so...” The noise had been out of the ordinary amidst the din of nature, but it hadn’t really sounded like any sort of technology or lurking Nindroid. Still, you could never be too sure. “It was probably just an animal, but I’m gonna scout ahead just in case.” I withdrew my arm, taking a few steps forward. “You guys stay here; I’ll only be a sec.”

“Be careful,” Lloyd told me.

I turned my head around, smirking at him. “Hey, ‘careful’ is my middle name.”

Lloyd chuckled. “That’s a weird middle name.”

“It’s better than Montgomery.”

“Hey!”

I laughed at his reaction---and I also could’ve sworn I saw his father try to conceal a smile behind his hand. I then turned back around, running toward a tree a few feet away and immediately leaping onto the lowest branch once I was next to it. From there, I used a vine to climb up the tree to get a bird’s eye view of the messy jungle. I stopped at a branch just past the tree’s halfway point--which was still _really_ high up--and started scanning the surroundings for whatever had made that mysterious noise.

Meanwhile, below me on the jungle floor, Lloyd and his father had a little talk, one that I never heard. Once I was out of earshot, Garmadon turned to his son. Lloyd was gazing upward, watching his best friend up in the tree with a look that the old sensei knew all too well.

“You care for her very much, don’t you, son?” Garmadon asked him in a quiet voice.

Lloyd’s gaze broke away from the figure up in the tree, facing his father. “Is… Is it that obvious?” he asked, shyly rubbing his nape.

Garmadon chuckled. “Only to me,” he reassured him. He looked up at his son’s best friend, still perched way up high in the tree, and Lloyd followed his gaze. “I often look at your mother the same exact way.”

Lloyd was quiet for a moment, then sighed. “How do I tell her? _What_ do I even tell her? How do I know that I won’t just mess things up?”

His father put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Son, these kinds of things are never easy. There will always be uncertainty. But, if you truly love her, you should fight for her. When you tell her how you feel, speak from the heart, and just be honest. And most importantly: be yourself, and no one else.”

Lloyd let his father’s words sink in. He then nodded, smiling at him gratefully. “Thanks, Dad.”

Garmadon nodded in return. “And if I were you, I would tell her as soon as possible,” he advised, a far-off look in his eyes, “before another man does it first.”

Lloyd balked at the very thought.

And to him, it sounded as though his father was speaking from experience.

Back up in the tree, I sighed in defeat when I couldn’t locate the source of the strange noise. Maybe I had just imagined it; this had been a long day, after all. Shaking my head, I latched onto the vine again and let it slide through my hands, safely descending back to the jungle floor. Once I landed, I made my way back over to Lloyd and his father.

“I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary,” I reported, crossing my arms in slight frustration. “I could’ve sworn that I heard something weird, but I guess it wasn’t anything at all…”

“It’s always wise to be cautious,” Garmadon told me, smiling. “Now we can safely press on.”

**. . .**

Sure, I was a hopeful girl, but with all the aimless wandering we’d been doing I didn’t think we would actually find the fabled oasis at the center of the jungle. For once, I was happy to be proven wrong.

After pushing through yet another clump of oversized leaves, we suddenly found ourselves in an open area, small and tucked away in the depths of the jungle. My eyes widened as I gazed around, and we all collectively gasped at the sight before us. A small waterfall cascaded down into a pond of crystal-clear water, filling the entire area with a refreshing mist. It was a welcome relief from the jungle’s humidity. All around us, beautiful, colorful plants grew on the tall trees, and small icy blue flowers poked out from the trunks. The entire scene was breathtaking, and I immediately felt blessed to have stumbled upon it.

“The jewel of the labyrinth,” Garmadon announced. “It’s…”

“The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” Lloyd stated, his voice filled with awe.

I slowly nodded in agreement, still gazing around with wide eyes and a smile. “We actually found it. Amazing…” Were we lucky, or what?

“Yes. Beauty can be born even in darkness,” Garmadon stated, walking up behind me and his son.

Inhaling deeply, I was instantly calmed by the fresh, misty air. “Now we can finally relax!”

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, there was a sudden loud buzzing noise from behind us. The three of us whirled around just in time to see a few of the massive trees falling down in the distance, as if they were being cut with a saw. There was only one reason that somebody would be chopping down such a sacred place so violently.

I gulped. “I just _had_ to open my mouth…”

“They found us,” Garmadon announced, the peaceful moment ruined. He turned to us, gesturing in the direction away from the buzzing noise. “You both must leave. Go!”

He walked forward, supposedly waiting to face off against the Nindroids or whatever was pursuing us. Lloyd and I, however, didn’t immediately leave like he wanted us to. Instead, the two of us exchanged the same look, both hesitant to leave the sensei all by himself. I knew that Garmadon had a lot of experience and could fight really well, but those Nindroids were really tough…

And besides, if he were to get hurt...it would be because of us. I wanted to protect him from that, if I could.

As if sensing our reluctance, Garmadon whirled around and shouted at us. “I said _leave_!”

This time, Lloyd and I listened to him. We both turned around and scurried back into the underbrush of the jungle. Lloyd leapt onto a tree and quickly began climbing it to reach the top of the short cliff that the waterfall was falling from. I followed closely behind. Hearing the telltale sounds of fighting, I looked down for a moment and gasped at what I saw: Garmadon was fighting Sensei Wu! He was just as Jay had described him: his beard was now black, and he was outfitted with cybernetic enhancements.

_They… They really did turn him evil!_ Obviously he was being controlled, but it still hurt to see him like that.

Looking back upward, I saw Lloyd watching with the same expression on his face. I immediately urged him onward. “Your dad can handle him, Lloyd,” I reassured him. “We have to go.”

He seemed to snap out of it at my words. Nodding, he continued climbing the tree, and I followed his lead. In no time, the two of us reached the top of the small cliff---only to find a squad of Nindroids waiting for us. We gasped at the sight of them, and they began closing in on us.

I made a ready stance so we could fight our way out. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lloyd smirk. He put his hands close together, beginning to summon a bright orb of energy between them.

_What is he doing?! We can’t use our powers against the Nindroids!_ Lloyd knew that. What was he planning to do?

“No!” I heard Garmadon shout at his son from below. “Trust in the balance!”

The next moment, Lloyd’s orb of energy flashed, suddenly materializing into a green motorbike beneath him. That’s right---a solid, functioning motorbike. He continued smirking at the Nindroids, while my mouth dropped open.

“Hang on! We can do that?!” I exclaimed in surprise. Wasting no time, I summoned a ball of light between my hands, concentrating and trying to do what Lloyd did. After a few short seconds, my light flashed brightly, and I suddenly found myself sitting atop a yellow motorbike just like Lloyd’s. “Holy unholy! We can do that!”

Lloyd took a moment to chuckle at my outbursts. I wanted to ask him how the heck he’d figured out how to do that, but now was not the time. After pulling our masks up, the two of us revved our bikes’ engines, turning them around back toward the cliff and knocking over most of the Nindroids as we did. The two of us drove off of the waterfall cliff, soaring over where Garmadon and Sensei Wu were fighting. We landed on their other side, immediately zooming off into the jungle as fast as we could.

If the situation were different, I probably would’ve found racing through the jungle on a motorbike a pretty fun thing to do. Lloyd and I drove side by side as we zoomed through the trees, zigzagging around them. For a moment, I thought we had gotten away, but then I spotted several Nindroids pursuing us from the air. 

An idea formed in my mind, and I turned to Lloyd. “We need to split up!” I shouted over the rumble of our bikes. “They’ll be easier to lose that way!”

Lloyd looked reluctant at my idea. I could see traces of worry in his eyes. I didn’t like splitting up, either, but that seemed like the best course of action right now.

“It’ll only be for a moment!” I assured him. “Once we lose them, we’ll regroup!”

He was quiet for a moment, then nodded. “Okay!”

Wasting no more time, I immediately swerved my bike onto a side path, zooming off in a different direction. Two of the four Nindroids that had been pursuing us followed me, while the other two kept flying after Lloyd. I silently told him to be safe.

As I zigzagged through the trees, thoughts began to fly through my head. _How in the world did they find us?! We were hidden so well!_ The only ones who knew where we were hiding were the other ninja, Nya, and---

The falcon.

It was a robot.

Crap.

How in the world did the Overlord manage to hack into Zane’s falcon?!

Well, it didn’t really matter now.

I tried to lose the Nindroids pursuing me, but no matter how much I zigzagged or sped onward, they kept gaining on me. Quickly, I tried to think of some other way to lose them.

That was when Garmadon’s words echoed in my head: _“When one relies on something too much, we become weak, vulnerable, imbalanced.”_ He was saying that we shouldn’t rely on our powers so much, and I agreed with him. That was when an idea struck me. If I couldn’t lose the Nindroids while on the bike...then maybe I should just lose the bike.

After checking to make sure that the flying Nindroids were still several feet behind me, I picked a nearby tree and made a sharp turn around it. In that one second where I was out of sight of my pursuers, I leapt off of my motorbike and dived headfirst into a large bush. Submerging myself behind the large leaves, I heard my bike continue zooming off into the jungle, now without a driver. I made no movements or sounds, breathing silently as I hoped that the Nindroids would take the bait. The engine’s rumble soon grew distant, and I didn’t hear any other noises besides the chirping of birds. Only then did I slowly move, turning myself around so that I could peek out from behind the leaves. I was ready to fight if needed, but to my delight, there was not a single Nindroid in sight.

“Yes!” I softly exclaimed in victory. I emerged from the bush, smirking and doing a quick little happy dance. “And _that_ is how you ninja vanish.” I wasn’t sure how long the bike would keep going until it vanished, but I wasn’t about to stick around and find out.

I thought about just summoning it again, but decided against it. Instead, I decided to trust in the balance, like Garmadon had told us to. Looking upward, the tall trees and countless vines caught my eye. The Nindroids would be searching for me driving a motorbike on the ground, not traveling through the treetops.

I scurried over to the nearest tree, picking a vine and using it to climb up to the tree’s highest branch. I looked around, wondering which direction I should go in, but then froze. I suddenly felt...anxious. Worried. But not for myself---for Lloyd. It was as if something were telling me that he was in terrible danger---or would be soon.

Whatever this feeling was telling me, I decided to listen to it. Overcome with the sudden urge to find my best friend, I began leaping through the treetops, searching high and low for him. I hopped from branch to branch, and even swung across on a few vines. I remained light on my feet and never stopped moving, becoming like a ghost in the trees. Once again, I was thankful for all the extra effort I put into my training to become so nimble. I kept an eye out for Lloyd, Nindroids, and Sensei Garmadon, not seeing anyone at first.

Then finally, I spotted a few Nindroids on the jungle floor. They looked like they had crashed, or been smashed by something. Halting for a moment above them, I also spotted tire tracks in the dirt. Bingo. I quickly followed the tracks from above, hoping that Lloyd was alright.

It didn’t take me long to find where he had gone. I saw that the trees thinned out ahead, and so I used a vine to descend back to the ground. Silently, I crept over to the treeline, finding a sheer cliff about a hundred feet beyond where the trees ended, dropping into a vast ocean. But that wasn’t what made me gasp in terror.

Hovering in the air past the cliff was a massive mechanical dragon like the one we’d encountered before---except this one was _way_ bigger. It was more of a ship than a robot beast. Upon it stood evil Sensei Wu, restraining Garmadon with his dark bo staff. The dragon-esque ship’s eyes glowed with a familiar light, and that was when I realized: it was the Overlord.

Crap.

Something else caught my eye, too. On the ground in front of the massive dragon-ship stood Lloyd. Some sort of strange purple mechanical snake was wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. He struggled against it, trying to summon his powers, but...he couldn’t for some reason. Was that snake blocking him from using his power? How was that possible?

Right before I could leap out of the bushes and rescue him, a figure emerged from the trees on the clearing’s other side. They were fully-clothed in white robes, and a hood obscured their face in shadow. I watched the figure, both confused and intrigued. That’s when I noticed the way they were walking as they approached Lloyd---or should I say, the way they were slithering.

_The Serpentine?_ Could this be the mysterious Serpentine that Nya had warned us about? It seemed that we were about to find out who they were.

The hooded figure stopped next to Lloyd, who watched them warily. I held my breath in suspense as they reached up, slowly pulling the hood off of their head…

“Hello...old chum.”

My eyes widened as wide as they could go, and my entire body froze in shock.

It… It _couldn’t_ be him!

What?! How?! Why?! When?! He was supposed to be DEAD!!

His voice was a lot raspier than I remembered, and most of his scales were now a pale white...but he was still unmistakable. It was a face that I would (unfortunately) never forget:

The overgrown snake.

“Pythor?!” Lloyd exclaimed, both looking and sounding as extremely shocked as I felt right now. “I thought you were…”

Pythor smirked at him. “Hmm. Gone?”

That was when I snapped out of my surprised state. I would have time to be shocked and go through the stages of disbelief later. Right now, Lloyd and his father were in trouble---and I had to save them! The sight of Pythor tormenting Lloyd again gave me deja vu from back when we were ten years old; it awakened an old anger and sense of determination within me.

Perhaps it was that memory that made me attack like I had back then. Readying myself, I leapt out of the bushes, flying through the air with my foot aimed at Pythor. I let out a battle cry that sounded something like “Kee-yah!” that drew the Serpentine’s attention to me. Just as he turned toward me, my foot collided with his face with all my strength behind it. The Anacondrai went flying backward a few feet, falling onto his back and letting out an exclamation of surprise. I landed between him and Lloyd, standing defensively.

“Aurora!” Lloyd exclaimed in relief and surprise.

A smirk of satisfaction grew behind my mask at the sight of Pythor clutching his nose in pain. “Hah! You just got whacked by the Yellow Ninja---again! You must be so embarrassed.” Sure, that had been just a little violent, but he more than deserved it, right?

Pythor growled, picking himself up off the ground while still clutching his nose. “Aurora,” he greeted in an unfriendly tone.

“Hello, overgrown snake,” I greeted back. “Uh, really quick, I was just wondering---and I mean this in the nicest way possible...” I took a deep breath, then loudly shouted, “How the HECK are you still alive?!”

Pythor let go of his aching nose to answer me. “Instead of dying, I suffered a worse fate,” he explained. “Digested in the bowels of the Devourer. It can wreak havoc on one’s complexion.” He wasn’t kidding; most of his purple scales had now turned white, and he definitely looked weary and worse for wear. “Fortunately for Wu, he escaped unscathed…” He gestured spitefully over to evil Sensei Wu, who was still restraining Garmadon as the dragon-ship lowered itself to our level.

My heart ached at seeing Sensei Wu like that, but it was soon replaced with determination. I turned toward them, raising my hand and readying myself to charge forward and rescue Garmadon from his brother’s clutches. Before I could, however, Pythor grabbed my wrist in a vice-like grip.

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” he warned me, smirking evilly.

It was then I fully realized the situation. Evil Wu was holding his brother precariously over the side of the ship, threatening to drop him into the ocean below. If I attacked them or tried to escape, then he would drop Garmadon into the ocean---and from this height, there was no guarantee that he would survive the fall.

“Try anything, and he falls,” Pythor hissed, confirming my realization.

It was happening again. Defeated without a fight. It was just like when we’d tried to escape Ouroboros: if I kept fighting or running, then someone else would pay the price for it. Once again, I was stuck. Once again, Pythor was in the middle of it. And even if I somehow managed to make it over to Garmadon before Sensei Wu dropped him, Lloyd would still be left here with no powers and with Pythor, who could also easily use him to get me to stand down, too. I already knew he was capable of that.

I looked down, sighing in defeat. It really, really, _really_ pained me to just give up like this after everything, with almost no fight at all...but I didn’t want anybody else to get hurt because of me. I abandoned my attack stance, resisting the urge to yank my hand from Pythor’s grip. From the corner of my eye, I saw him smirk in triumph and satisfaction.

Oh, he was so asking for another kick in the face later.

Pythor pulled out another purple snake-thing to restrain me with, blocking me from using my powers. He then grabbed Lloyd, still restrained, and led us both up to the mouth of the dragon-ship where the entrance was. Lloyd and I both exchanged looks of utter defeat.

“ _Finally, the Golden Ninja and Silver Ninja are both mine!_ ” the Overlord exclaimed triumphantly. “ _Now the transformation can be complete!_ ”

I gulped. _Oh great…_ This was not good. Not at all.

“I couldn’t leave you,” Lloyd told his dad in an apologetic tone. “I can’t do this alone. I failed you, father.”

Garmadon gave him a reassuring look. “It’s okay, son. It is I who failed---”

“ _He is no longer of importance to me_ ,” the Overlord stated, cutting him off. “ _Throw him overboard._ ”

“No!” Lloyd and I exclaimed in protest.

Without hesitation, the evil Wu shoved his brother over the side of the ship. I watched in horror as Sensei Garmadon plummeted down, down, down, yelling as he crashed into the waves below.

“Garmadon!” I screamed, shock and horror rippling through me.

“Father!!” Lloyd shouted in desperation.

I watched the water’s surface for a sign, something...but Garmadon did not resurface.

Lloyd’s eyes watered, and he began sobbing quietly as he stared down at where his father had fallen. I reached over to him with an arm that was slightly free, wrapping him in the best hug that I could muster in our current situation. I buried his face into my shoulder, squeezing him comfortingly as I felt my own eyes grow watery. _He’s… He’s not really gone. Right?_ I was hopeful, but...few people could survive a fall like that…

Our enemies gave us no time to grieve. Pythor wrenched me away from Lloyd, all but dragging me into the large dragon-ship. Evil Wu brought Lloyd inside, and before I could think of escaping, the entrance snapped shut behind us. I then felt the ship turn and start flying away, stealing us into the sunset.

This was worse than when we’d been defeated by the Overlord the first time. Despite all our best efforts, despite all that time running and hiding, he had captured us anyway.

...What were we supposed to do now?


	5. Episode 32: Finally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Overlord is creepy and greedy (and Pythor is still an idiot, but at least I get to roast him).
> 
> Coming so close to dying is something that you never get used to---and makes you realize just how quickly it can all end...
> 
> ...And makes you realize how soon you need to face your fears before that happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, this chapter... I don't know if you're ready for it. Wait, scratch that---you're NOT ready for it.
> 
> I've said too much already. I really hope you all enjoy this one. :)  
> \--------------------

If it was one thing about the Overlord, it was that he didn’t waste any time. Right there on his giant dragon-ship thing was the technology needed for him to extract our powers and create a new physical form with them. Lloyd and I were both locked in separate glass containers; there was plenty of room to move around inside them, but that was about the only good thing. They sat next to each other and were both hooked up to a casket-esque device elevated at the front of the room. A giant monitor sat above it, allowing the Overlord to watch from the digiverse with his creepy glowing eyes.

The first thing I did was search every inch of my glass prison for a weakness or potential way out. There were none; I didn’t expect to find any, but looking for them anyway made me feel a bit better. Then, I took a moment to groan about me and Lloyd always being the ones who got captured or tied up. It was starting to get less intimidating and more annoying.

It wasn’t long before Pythor started up the extraction process. Lloyd’s container began glowing with his golden power as it was stolen from him, swirling around inside the thick glass. The golden power was transported over to where the casket sat, very slowly taking shape as a completion meter counted up. I watched helplessly as his golden power was being forcibly taken from him, slowly leaving him more and more drained of energy. I was also left a little confused as to why they weren’t taking my silver power at the moment.

“Everything is proceeding as we planned,” Pythor told the giant screen with the Overlord’s eyes on it.

“ _Yes_ ,” the Overlord replied, clearly elated that he was now getting the power he craved. “ _Once I take both of their powers, the transformation will be complete, and I shall have a physical form once more!_ ”

I could only watch for a minute or two until I’d had enough. I was going to save Lloyd and get us out of this mess---even if I had to destroy the place to do it!

I tried anything I could think of, attacking the glass entrapping me with everything I had. I restrained myself from using my silver power at all--I wasn’t giving that up, not ever--and instead opted for just using my light, along with any of the other elements I could manage to use. I blasted the glass with huge orbs of light. I seared it with fire. I froze it with ice to try and make it less durable. I shocked it with lightning. I summoned the strength of the earth and punched it. I even tried using Spinjitzu to break it down. But nothing, _nothing_ worked---the glass was too thick and too strong, as if it were made specifically to contain a ninja with elemental powers...which it probably was.

But I refused to quit. I kept at it, hopeful with the belief that at some point, if I struck the same area enough times, the glass would crack and eventually shatter. I was too determined to save Lloyd to stop trying; the Overlord was taking what was not his, and I would make him pay for it.

Eventually, Pythor grew tired of my restlessness. “I’m afraid that what you’re doing is pointless,” he told me in an annoyed tone from where he worked at a console. “That containment unit was made to withstand any and all elemental attacks.” The machine that the Overlord was using to extract Lloyd’s power seemed to be working fine on its own, which made me wonder: why was Pythor still here?

“Oh, yeah?” I countered, breathing a little heavily from exerting myself so much. “Was it made to withstand my army of fists?!” I summoned the power of the earth again, using all my strength to strike the glass in a flurry of punches. When my fists began to hurt, I stopped, panting as I examined the damage. 

Not even a scratch.

I let out a frustrated sigh. What was this glass made of? A wave of exhaustion came over me, and I flopped down onto my rear, deciding to take a little break. My gaze went over to Lloyd; he was slumped against the glass, trying his best to remain standing as his golden power was taken from him. I put a hand to the glass separating us, frowning. “Lloyd…” I whispered in despair, wanting so badly to help him, to save him from this. Trying to break out of here wasn’t working so far---but what else could I do?

That was when I realized I had another weapon at my disposal: my big mouth.

I smirked, looking over at the snake in the room. “Hey Pythor, you’re looking a little pale. Here’s an idea: why don’t you go out into the sunlight and burn yourself to a crisp?”

Pythor sighed tiredly. “You’re not funny, you know. Just annoying.”

“Am not,” I protested, standing back up. “I’m just trying to give you some advice. After all, the last time you didn’t listen to me, things didn’t end well for you.” A wide, smug grin spread across my face. “How did that go, by the way? Unleashing the Great Devourer?”

“Still not funny,” Pythor growled at me. From his tone, I could tell that my provocations were working.

“Hey, I’m just saying!” I defended, trying my best not to laugh. “I tried warning you from the start that unleashing the Devourer was a bad idea, and that there was nothing stopping it from consuming the Serpentine along with everything else. But no! You wouldn’t listen to a little girl.” I gestured to him. “And look at how you paid for it! You’ve become the only albino Serpentine in existence! Should I be calling you Palethor now?”

“Quiet, brat!” he sneered.

I chuckled. “Hey, if you wanted me to be quiet, you should’ve soundproofed this thing. Guess we can add that to your list of mistakes.”

Pythor whirled around, looking ready to slither over and smack me. “Shut your mouth before I come over there and shut it for you!”

“Hah! Heard that one before!” I shot back, having deja vu back to when we’d been trapped in Ouroboros.

Pythor looked like he was about to make good on his threat, when the voice of the Overlord stopped him. “ _Ignore her and focus,_ ” he told the snake. “ _It’s time to set the next phase of the plan in motion. You can figure out how to transfer her silver power once the other ninja have been stopped and the Techno Blades have been retrieved._ ”

Upon hearing his words, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Wait… Figure out?” I echoed. They were still trying to figure out how to take my power from me? They didn’t know how? Which meant that… “You guys can’t extract my silver power?”

“A minor setback, I assure you,” Pythor stated nonchalantly as he prepared to leave.

_Whatever's taking Lloyd’s power doesn’t work on me?_ I made a mental note of that.

Soon, Pythor and evil Sensei Wu left the dragon-ship, leaving me and Lloyd trapped with only the creepy Overlord to keep us company. Lloyd’s golden power kept getting drained from him, slowly transferring to the casket where the Overlord was creating a new physical form. Already, the process was seventy-four percent complete, and I could make out the faint outline of a body inside the casket. And Lloyd was definitely suffering for it; his legs were wobbling weakly, and he looked like he was on the verge of collapsing.

I put both my hands on the glass, feeling utterly helpless. “Hang in there, Lloyd,” I encouraged him. “We’ll get out of this somehow.”

“ _Soon he will be utterly powerless_ ,” the Overlord told me, unhelpfully. “ _And I… I will escape this digital prison and become whole, and nothing will stop me from becoming the Golden Master! Once I figure out how to take your power as well, I shall wield the combined force of both the Golden Ninja and Silver Ninja, and nothing will ever be able to stop me again!_ ”

“That’s what you think,” I growled at him. I then turned my attention back to my best friend, my heart aching at seeing him in his current state. “Lloyd, you’re one of the stubbornest people I know. You’re not letting him take your power easily. Fight it! You can do this!”

Lloyd weakly grunted again and again. His legs were still shaking as he tried his hardest to remain standing, even with all the power that was being taken from him. “A-Aurora…”

I gave him a small smile. “I’m right here, Lloyd. I’ll find us a way out of this.” I glanced around the sturdy container, my smile disappearing. “Somehow…”

“ _She cannot help you, Golden Ninja_ ,” the Overlord told Lloyd, his spooky eyes appearing on the glass right in front of where he stood. “ _You are all alone. Nothing can save you now._ ” He cackled sinisterly.

“Hey!” I banged my fist on the glass. “Stay away from him, you creep! Lloyd, ignore him! He’s not gonna win!” If it was one thing I knew about the Overlord, it was that he always celebrated prematurely.

I glanced at the completion meter, startled to find it at eighty-eight percent. An impending sense of doom filled me, and it made me gulp---but I still had hope. “Listen, Lloyd,” I said, turning back to him. “You aren’t alone. You’ve _never_ been alone! There will always be someone you can count on, someone who will stand by you. And as long as I’m around, that person is me! Even if the whole world is against us, I’ll stand with you! I won’t leave you all alone!”

_Because I love you_ , I added silently.

Lloyd fell to his knees, and the Overlord started cackling again. Then, after a few silent, tense moments, Lloyd began speaking. “I am not alone…” he stated, his voice progressively growing louder. “I am not alone. I am not alone!”

I smiled at him. _Yes! Never lose hope, Lloyd!_

The percentage climbed higher and higher, and the Overlord’s new body grew more and more solid. It looked like it was mostly made of solid shadow, with sparks of gold mixed into it. Lloyd and I watched anxiously as his physical form neared completion. I had no idea what to do, or how to get out of here---but for some reason, I still held onto hope, even as I watched helplessly.

To my horror, the Overlord’s physical form began reaching out of the casket. My gaze snapped over to Lloyd, just in time to see him collapse against the glass surrounding him. “Lloyd!” I cried out. I started banging on the glass again, furiously trying to break it with anything and everything I had left.

Then, all of a sudden, the Overlord began screeching in pain and fury. He shouted words of protest over and over again, as if something were fighting him. After a few long moments of this, the casket his new body was in exploded, causing the screen with his face to shatter as he just simply...vanished.

I had little time to celebrate, as the casket exploding caused a chain reaction to the whole machine. Violent explosions and fire were suddenly everywhere as all the machinery malfunctioned, and I screamed in alarm, curling myself into a ball as the thick glass around me shattered. I heard a loud creaking, and looked up to see the container’s ceiling falling straight toward me. I tried rolling out of the way in time, but my leg was caught underneath it as it crashed onto the floor. I cried out in pain as fire spread all around me. The ship began to crumble, and it was clear that if Lloyd and I didn’t leave soon, we would go down with it.

“Aurora?!” I heard Lloyd weakly call out through the fire.

“Over here!” I shouted, hoping he would hear my voice. I yanked my leg again and again, struggling to pull it free. “I-I’m stuck!”

As I tried my best to pull my leg free, I spotted Lloyd slowly making his way over to me. He was crawling on the floor, trying to avoid the crumbling parts of the ship around him. He also probably didn’t have much energy left to stand, I knew.

When he arrived at my side, he immediately began trying to lift the heavy debris off my leg. I continued struggling, trying to pull my leg free as soon as he lifted it up enough. But as I said, most of his energy had already been spent---it was hard to say if he would be able to lift the debris in time.

After a few long minutes of no success, I began to panic a little. The ship was going down, and would crash at any minute. If I couldn’t get my leg out, then…

When I realized this, I turned to Lloyd. “Just go,” I urged him. “If you leave now, you can still escape before the ship crashes.”

“No!” Lloyd immediately protested. “You said that you’ll never leave me, and so I’ll never leave you!”

In the midst of all the chaos and panic, I smiled.

By some miracle, Lloyd was able to lift the metal debris up enough for me to pull my leg free. Once my leg was out, he let go of it, letting it crash back onto the floor. My leg hurt badly, but I found myself ignoring it as Lloyd and I began heading for the exit. The two of us helped each other, going as fast as we possibly could while steering clear of the flames and crumbling ship parts.

“ _Losing altitude_ ,” an automated voice announced from overhead. “ _Impact in T-minus ten...nine...eight…”_

Lloyd and I went faster as the voice slowly counted down toward our doom. We opened the door to the ramp we’d boarded the ship on. He and I stumbled, rolling onto said ramp outside. I never thought I’d be so happy to smell the salty sea air. I picked myself up as the voice continued counting down, my mouth dropping open when I saw the blue surface of the ocean rushing up to greet us.

We both went over to the side as the ship plummeted. Seconds before it crashed, the two of us stumbled more than jumped off of the ship, still holding onto each other as we both fell down, down, down toward the sea waves that waited below.

“ _Two...one._ ”

The wind caught us, sending us flying through the air diagonally before we touched the waves below. Right before I hit the water, I saw the dragon-ship crashing into the ocean a safe distance away, causing the waves around it to violently ripple outwards. Then, the two of us smacked against the ocean surface, and I blacked out.

Luckily, it seemed as though I wasn’t out for long. Wearily, I forced my eyes open, greeted with the sight of green ocean water surrounding me. I was slowly sinking, so I tried to make my body respond, holding what little breath I had and frantically moving my head around to search for Lloyd. I tried to repress the unpleasant memories from the first time I’d nearly drowned. I turned and spotted him close by, and at the same time he spotted me. We immediately swam over to each other, and I was beyond relieved to see that he was okay. We grabbed each other’s hand, then used our free hands to propel ourselves up to the surface.

The two of us burst from the water just in time. I loudly gulped in lungfuls of air, trying my best to stay afloat while reclaiming my breath. Lloyd did the same, still holding my hand in his own.

After a few moments of taking the much-needed breather, Lloyd pointed behind me. “Over there.”

I turned around in the water, and was relieved when I saw the coastline of Ninjago, a short distance away. A little bit past the shoreline sat a remote village, and even from this distance, I could see a few people out and about. After exchanging a nod with Lloyd, the two of us began swimming that way, both eager to be out of the water. We were both exhausted and hurt, but we pressed on, knowing that once we reached the shore we could rest all we wanted.

Finally, we both arrived at the beach. Letting go of his hand, I crawled from the water lapping at the shoreline, only stopping once I was out of its reach. That was when I flopped down into the sand, rolling over onto my back and trying to catch my breath again. My muscles ached, but also cried out in relief when I stopped moving. Lloyd flopped down next to me, in much the same condition.

After a minute or so of this, I heard something crackle in Lloyd’s pocket. We both sat up, and he pulled out a communication device. Nya had given them to us when she’d given us our new gis, but the Overlord had been jamming their signals this entire time. Now that it was working...did that mean he was finally gone?

“ _Lloyd, Aurora, are you there?_ ” asked a concerned voice. It sounded like that android, Pixal. “ _Do you read me?_ ”

Lloyd exchanged a hopeful look with me, and he held the comm up to his mouth, answering it. “We’re here. We’re both alright.”

Immediately, a relieved voice cried, “ _Son, where are you?!_ ”

My friend and I both gasped. “Mr. Garmadon?!” I exclaimed in shock. He’d survived the fall!

“D-Dad?!” Lloyd shouted, leaning closer to the comm device. “You’re alive!!” He and I both beamed in utter delight at the news. “Uh...we’re near a remote village.”

“ _Stay where you are_ ,” Garmadon instructed us. “ _We’re picking you up_.”

Lloyd lightly chuckled. “Ah, good, because uh, my golden power’s, uh, a little...spent.”

A chorus of laughter came from the other end, and it made me and Lloyd both start laughing as well. It sounded like everyone else was alright, too. It was a great relief to know that.

“ _We’ll be there soon,_ ” Garmadon assured us. “ _I’m glad you’re both safe_.” The connection cut off there.

Lloyd put the comm away, sighing in relief. “He’s alive…”

I grinned, scooching over to him. “Told you he could take care of himself.”

He chuckled. “You were right, Rose, as always.”

I snickered, bringing my legs up to my chest as I stared out into the ocean. A part of me was still trying to work through the shock of what we’d just been through. “How many times have we crash-landed now?”

Lloyd laughed at my question. “I lost count a while ago.”

“Me too.”

We both shared a laugh. Really, he and I had both been in crash-landings too many times. It was an occupational hazard for us, all part of the exciting life of being a ninja.

For a while, Lloyd and I sat in a comfortable silence, waiting for the others to pick us up. I knew that it would probably be a while until they arrived; wherever we were now was probably a good distance away from New Ninjago City. I didn’t mind; I was enjoying the feeling of the bright sun upon me, sharing its warm light with me and drying my damp clothes. There was a cool breeze as well, making sure that I didn’t grow too hot beneath the sun’s rays. After everything we’d been through in the past few days, this little break on a serene beach was a welcome relief.

At one point, Lloyd turned to me, a question in his gaze making him frown. “Did you really want me to just leave you there?” He was talking about when we were on the ship just now.

I smiled wryly. “Well...not really. But I also didn’t wanna take you down with me.” I shrugged. “I was trapped, and I figured that if only one of us could escape, then---”

“Aurora, I’d _never_ leave you to die,” Lloyd stated, cutting me off. His tone was very serious. “We’re a team. We’re in this together, remember?”

A genuine smile replaced the old one, and I nodded. “You’re right,” I replied, feeling the warm fuzzies again. “There’s nothing we can’t do.”

As I turned my gaze back to the sea, I found myself thinking back on our time together. All the moments we’d shared, all the trouble we’d gotten ourselves into, all the fun we’d had, all the danger we’d faced by each other’s side. All the times that each of us had nearly died…

“You know,” I began after another quiet moment, “we’ve almost died plenty of times, but...I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Lloyd agreed. I was a little surprised to hear that instead of his usual light-heartedness, there was something heavy in his tone. “Almost dying...that does something to you.” His voice grew quieter as he spoke. “Gives you a new perspective… Makes you rethink parts of your life…”

Okay...that was almost too deep. What was going on? Sure, Lloyd could be serious and even give motivational speeches when needed, but this...this was something entirely different. I wasn’t sure whether to joke about how serious he was being or try and cheer him up. For the first time in a long while, it was hard for me to tell what he was thinking.

It wasn’t like he was wrong, either. Having a near-death experience definitely made one rethink parts of their life, reminding them of how quickly everything could end for them. It was definitely not fun to think about, but sometimes you just couldn’t help it. I’d tangled with those thoughts too often, and I probably would continue to do so for the rest of my life.

After the silence descended back down between us, I found myself anxiously waiting for whatever Lloyd would say next. Even without glancing at his face, I could tell that there was more that he wanted to say to me. But what? And why was he so hesitant to say it?

Finally, he turned to me again. “Aurora?”

I faced him again, humming a response for him to go on. There were butterflies in my stomach, and I could not figure out why.

Lloyd took in a deep, shaky breath. “Aurora, I… Uh, this is…” He seemed to be struggling to get the words to come out. Why was he so nervous? “I’m not sure how to say this, but… Uh... I… I…” He struggled for a moment longer, then groaned, seeming to come to some sort of decision. “Ah, you know what? I’m gonna stop talking.”

Right before I could express any words of confusion, Lloyd leaned over, cupped my cheek with his hand, and crashed his lips against my own.

Wait.

Lloyd was kissing me.

Lloyd...was kissing me?

Lloyd was _kissing_ me!

I made a startled noise, my eyes widening in shock. Was this real? I could hardly believe that this was really happening! After all this time, after all the silent pining and hopefulness...here we were, actually kissing, and I was caught up in it like a deer in headlights.

Before I could kiss him back or even react more, Lloyd quickly pulled away from me, a look of panic on his face as he took my shock the wrong way. “W-Was that okay? Was that crossing a line?” He grew angry with himself. “I’m so sorry! I really should’ve asked you first. I’m such a---”

I didn’t let him finish, grabbing him by the front of his ninja gi and bringing his lips back to mine. It was his turn to be startled, and when he eventually relaxed and began kissing me back, fireworks exploded inside of me. It was everything I’d dreamed it would be and more, and I had to resist the urge to pull away and loudly squeal in delight. A loving warmth warmer than the sun flowed through me, and my heart wildly fluttered inside my chest---it was like all those times I had fuzzy feelings around him, but sooo much better. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my chest, because now I finally knew: he liked me back!

After I pulled away to catch my breath, I beamed. “Wow. You…” I giggled. “You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that.”

Lloyd looked surprised. “R-Really?!”

  
  
“Yes!” I shouted, leaning away so I could express myself. “Oh, this isn’t fair! You beat me to it! I was going to confess to you first! So many times, I got _so_ close, but I kept chickening out!” I sighed. “I was just so afraid---”

“---that you wouldn’t feel the same way,” Lloyd finished.

He and I stared at each other in shock. He’d said it in such a way that told me he knew exactly what I meant. After a quiet moment, the two of us both grinned, then burst out laughing. All this time, we’d both been feeling the same way about each other---and had both been too afraid to admit it. I realized that we’d both had the same fears, the same awkward thoughts, both of us too afraid to act or confess. It was so absurd that we just had to laugh at ourselves.

Nya had been right all along.

“We’re...kind of pathetic, aren’t we?” Lloyd asked me once our laughter had died down.

I was smiling so much that my cheeks were beginning to hurt. “Well, we’re pathetic together,” I replied, inwardly cringing at how cheesy that sounded. “That’s all that matters.”

He gave me the most loving smile that I’d ever received. This time, we both leaned toward each other, meeting in a sweet kiss once again. Despite neither of us having kissed before, it came almost naturally. He pulled me so close that our bodies touched, and his arms wrapped around me in a loving embrace. My heart fluttered again as I hung my arms around his neck, our lips dancing together to a song only we could hear. The two of us kissed each other beneath the sun as long as our lungs would let us. Lloyd and I had always cared about one another, but we both had just needed a little nudge to realize how much. I couldn’t remember a time when I was more happy.

_If I’m dreaming, please nobody pinch me. Ever._

When the need to breathe normally became too great, we pulled away from each other. Our grins mirrored each other, resting our foreheads together for a little bit. After that, we both faced the horizon together, still huddled close. Lloyd kept his arm around me, and I leaned my head on his shoulder, snuggling close to him. I sighed in content, feeling so incredibly loved and safe that it was almost overwhelming.

After a few content, silent moments, Lloyd spoke again. “I-I love you,” he told me, the three little words making my heart soar and want to jump for joy. “I love you, Aurora,” he said again, more confidently this time. “W-Will you be my girl---”

“Yes, Lloyd,” I replied, chuckling at his adorable shyness. “I thought we’d already established that with all the kissing?”

“Oh, r-right…” Lloyd said, chuckling to himself.

I laughed in delight again; I was so happy right now that I couldn’t help myself. This moment, right here, right now, was a perfect moment---the one that I’d so anxiously been waiting for. There were so many emotions running through me that it was hard to make sense of them. But one emotion stood out from all the others:

“And just in case you were wondering: I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT. FINALLY. HAPPENED!!!
> 
> At long last, the long-awaited kiss has come! You don't know how long I've been waiting to share this chapter with you all! I revised this chapter again and again to make sure that it was just right, and I really really hope that it lived up to your expectations and that you enjoyed reading it! I hope I didn't make any of you spontaneously combust... It just gets cuter and fluffier from here! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think; I've never kissed anybody before so I'm not that good with kiss scenes... Anyway, see you all next Wednesday!


	6. Episode 33: Codename: Arcturus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glad we finally confessed? I am, too!
> 
> Now all we have to do is stop Pythor. Again.
> 
> What are they planning now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, we're nearly at the end of the book already? Only two more chapters after this one! Season 3 is short, but luckily, the next one is longer!
> 
> I just want to profusely thank you all for your amazing positive feedback last chapter! You all have been waiting anxiously for the big kiss to happen, and I was glad I didn't disappoint! Thank you all for your kind words and praise! You guys really made my entire week! I love you all so much! :D
> 
> It only gets fluffier from here. Enjoy!  
> \-------------------

When Lloyd and I reunited with the others, there were plenty of hugs and smiles to go around. Every single one of us had been through a lot in the past couple of days, and frankly, I was just glad that everyone was still alive and safe. Sensei Wu had also finally been rescued from the Overlord’s control, and I was sure to give him a big welcome-home hug when I saw him.

We all took a little time to fill each other in on everything that had happened. Kai, Jay, Cole, and Zane had been able to enter the digiverse and take the Overlord virus down from there. That had been why everything had suddenly been blown to bits on the ship, and I was very grateful for it. The guys had defeated him just in time, as always.

They insisted that the Overlord was gone, that his virus was eradicated. I really, really wanted to believe that, but...something was telling me that things weren’t that simple. Besides, even if he was really gone, this fight wasn’t over yet; Pythor was still out there (much to my chagrin), as well as the army of Nindroids. They were definitely planning something, and I was a little afraid to find out what that was.

Before going to deal with all that, however, we made a trip to the Temple of Light on the Dark Island.

Lloyd stood on the golden circle beneath the giant bell. Kai, Jay, Cole, and Zane surrounded him, each standing in their designated spots. I stood off to the side, just watching. It was nice to be in the Temple of Light again; I’d felt a serene sense of calm and comfort upon walking in. It was like seeing an old friend after a long time apart.

“I can’t carry this burden alone anymore,” Lloyd said to the ninja around him. “As long as I have all this power, they’ll never stop coming for me.” He sighed in defeat, and I wanted to go over and hug him.

“From here on out, we can’t let anything separate us again,” Zane stated.

“He’s right,” Jay agreed.

I nodded. “Strength in numbers, after all.” I liked it better when the six of us were all fighting together.

“Absolutely,” Cole said.

“Let’s do this!” Kai exclaimed.

Nodding, Lloyd summoned his golden power forth. A giant orb of it formed around him, rapidly growing bigger and brighter. Then, he shot it upwards in a bright pillar into the underside of the bell, making it clang loudly. As the sound reverberated across the room, the golden light vanished, and four multicolored bursts of power shot out of Lloyd at the same moment. Each one of them went straight to one of the others, briefly surrounding them in different colors of light.

When that light faded, Kai held up his fist. Flames erupted in the palm of his hand, and he smirked in glee. Zane lowered his hand and shot a cold mist from it, making ice form on the ground. He arched his hand over his head, creating an ice arch over him as he smiled. The stone beneath Cole began to rumble and crack, creating a mini earthquake around him that created dust clouds. Jay raised both of his hands into the air, shooting blue lightning from his fingertips and grinning like a child on Christmas.

I laughed in delight. “Awesome!” I exclaimed. The four of them had long since deserved being able to use their element without a physical weapon. Even though it would be weird not seeing Lloyd summoning a golden dragon anymore, I was happy for the others.

“The elemental power---it’s inside us,” Zane announced excitedly.

Kai shot a large blast of flame into the air, singing, “Fire!”

Jay shot two blasts of lightning from each hand, forming a heart with them. “Ha! Anyone shocked to see me do this?!”

I would’ve facepalmed at his terrible pun, but this was a happy moment, so I laughed instead. Kai, Jay, Cole, and Zane all began playing around with their new powers, having the time of their life now that they could summon their elements whenever they wanted to. As I laughed at their silliness, Lloyd approached me.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to give them your silver power?” he asked me.

I frowned, looking down at my hands. “I’m...not sure I need to.”

Kai, who had been shooting fire downward from both of his hands so that he was hovering in the air, landed next to me. “What do you mean?” he asked curiously.

“I overheard the Overlord talking to Pythor,” I explained, looking up at him and Lloyd. “He was telling him to ‘figure out how to transfer’ my power---they couldn’t take it from me, for some reason. Whatever extraction process that was taking Lloyd’s power wasn’t working for me. So I...think I’ll be okay?”

Kai hummed in thought. “And now that the Overlord’s gone, he won’t be coming after you or your power anyway,” he reasoned, nodding. “Makes sense to me.”

After the fire ninja went back to, well, playing with fire, Lloyd faced me again with a concerned expression. “Are you sure, Aurora?” he asked.

I gave him a reassuring smile, placing a hand on his arm. “I’m sure, Lloyd. Besides, even if they do decide to come for me, I’ve got you to protect me. Right?”

Lloyd smiled at me, nodding. “Right.”

After he was convinced that I’d be fine, I turned my attention over to the lightning ninja. “Hey, Jay!” I called, forming an orb of yellow light in my hand as I scurried over to him. “Let’s combine our powers and see if we can make fireworks!”

. . .

After returning to New Ninjago City, we got straight down to business. The search for Pythor and Cyrus Borg (recently re-kidnapped) began. His tower’s system had an extensive network of cameras in a lot of places, not just in the city. The others and I were deployed out into the field to search the places where those cameras weren’t---minus Zane, who stayed behind with Pixal to coordinate said search. Lloyd and I grabbed motorbikes and went to search the more remote locations. He’d volunteered to go with me---probably because a part of him was still worried I’d get hunted down for my silver power again. And really, after all we’d been through lately, I couldn’t blame him.

The two of us drove to the Toxic Bogs and searched every inch of it. We spent a good while searching--we even took a look inside the creepy old Venomari tomb--but found no Nindroids or overgrown snakes.

We halted near the tomb to report our findings. “No sign of Nindroids in the Toxic Bogs,” Lloyd reported through the comms.

“ _Lloyd,_ ” came Sensei’s response, “ _while you and Aurora are out there, do you have time to search the Glacier Barrens?_ ”

“You can count on us,” I assured him.

“Hey, I may not be able to move mountains anymore, but I can still cover ground,” Lloyd assured his uncle. “Over and out.”

I immediately revved my bike’s engine, smirking over at Lloyd. “Race ya there!”

He chuckled in response. “You’re on!”

The two of us zoomed away, engaged in our friendly competition. We eventually made it out of the stinky bogs and back out onto the main road. I was determined to win our race, trying my best to stay head of Lloyd. He was putting up quite the fight, also refusing to lose. The air grew more and more frigid as we approached the Glacier Barrens, and I had to keep my bike under control as the road turned to slippery ice and snow. When we officially arrived in the barrens, the two of us crossed an imaginary finish line, both of our bikes grinding to a halt next to each other.

“I won!” we both exclaimed at the same time.

I gawked. “No you didn’t!”

“I did too!” Lloyd protested. “I was ahead of you when we got here!”

“No you weren’t! _I_ was ahead of _you_!”

“Were not!”

I frowned, hopping off my motorbike. “You know what?” Before Lloyd could respond, I bent down, grabbed some snow, quickly formed it into a snowball, and threw it at him.

It smacked him right in the face.

My pouty frown was replaced with a gasp and a smile. I covered my mouth as I laughed, watching a stunned Lloyd wipe bits of snow from his face. After he recovered from his brief shock, he immediately hopped off of his bike and started making a snowball of his own. I barely had time to say “Oh crap” before he threw it at me. I dived out of the way, landing on my side in the snow. When I looked back at him, he had already made another one and was running straight for me. I yelped, attempting to scramble to my feet in time to avoid it, but failing. The snowball hit my back as I tried to flee, and I squeaked a little at how shockingly cold it was. I kept running through the snow, and looked back to see him holding another snowball that I hadn’t seen earlier.

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry!” I shrieked as I kept running from him.

At this point, we were both smiling as he chased me through the snow. I saw Lloyd throw the snowball at me, but I managed to duck underneath it just in time. Before I could do anything else, though, he swiftly tackled me to the ground, making me shriek again. I struggled to break free of his grasp, and that resulted in the two of us tumbling down a small hill nearby. We both laughed like idiots the entire time, eventually coming to a stop with me flopped on top of him, laying across his stomach. We both were still laughing as we tried to catch our breath, and my sides were beginning to ache, but I just couldn’t stop. The two of us were still such children sometimes, but it was all in the name of fun.

Eventually, the laughter died down, and we both were able to catch our breath. I moved myself so that my face hovered over Lloyd’s, still laying on him as he lay on the snow. We both mirrored each other’s smile, and Lloyd leaned his head up to meet my lips in a kiss. I hummed in delight, warmth spreading through me despite the frigid temperature. Now that were were officially together at last, my joy seemed to never go away---not that I wanted it to. Every time he kissed me, I just wanted to melt.

After a few blissful minutes, we broke apart, giggling to ourselves. I then decided to let him stand up, climbing off of him and back onto my feet. I offered him a hand to grab, which he gratefully used to pull himself up.

“Call it a draw?” he suggested, still holding my hand.

I giggled, nodding. “Yeah, sounds good.”

Knowing that we should probably get back to work, Lloyd and I headed back up the hill to our motorbikes. As we walked, a thought struck me, and I smiled.

“How do you think the others will react when they find out about us?” I asked.

Lloyd chuckled. “They’ll probably start teasing us.”

“An unfortunate fact,” I agreed, snickering. “I fully expect Jay to freak out.”

Lloyd and I weren’t actively trying to keep our new relationship a secret. It just...hadn’t come up in conversation so far. Besides, we were still trying to hunt down the bad guys; focusing on the issue at hand was all that mattered right now. It wasn’t really the best time to just say “Hey, by the way, we’re together now!” The others would probably figure it out soon enough; I could only imagine how excited Nya would be once she found out.

After (reluctantly) parting, Lloyd and I hopped back onto our respective bikes, continuing our search in the frozen wasteland for our enemies.

. . .

We were wrapping up our search when we received a summons from Pixal, telling us that we should return to headquarters as soon as possible. I took that to mean our foes had been located, so Lloyd and I hightailed it back to New Ninjago City as fast as we possibly could.

Soon we arrived at Borg Tower, and rode the elevator all the way up to the top floor. Once the doors slid open, the two of us scurried inside. We met Zane, Sensei Wu, and Sensei Garmadon at a large table in the middle of the room, which had a holographic screen built into it.

Seeing their looks of worry, I asked, “What’s happening?”

“Did you find them?” Lloyd inquired.

Sensei Wu nodded. “Kai found them,” he confirmed. “However…”

“The Overlord’s alive,” Zane stated, not bothering to sugarcoat it.

Lloyd and I both gasped in shock. “What?!” we exclaimed.

I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. “Of course. Why am I not surprised?” I knew that the ninja destroying him in the digiverse was too good to be true. Now we had to fight him _again_. Would he ever be gone for good?

They quickly brought me and Lloyd up to speed on everything that had transpired while we’d been searching. Only a few minutes after they’d finished, Nya arrived, flanked by Jay and Cole. For some reason, she was also holding the hand of a short little robot.

“We got here as fast as we could,” Nya said as they all ran over to us.

The little robot she was pulling along spoke up. “But my name is Robo-Usher 3000.” It almost sounded as if he were protesting. He tugged on Nya’s arm to let him go, and she eventually did, sighing sadly. The little robot rolled back to the elevator, disappearing behind the steel doors. I wasn’t even going to ask.

“The Overlord is back,” Zane informed them grimly. “And he has Kai.”

“The Overlord?!” Nya, Jay, and Cole echoed at the same time.

I sighed. “Yeah, that was my reaction, too…”

“We know they plan to launch Project Arcturus tonight,” Sensei told them, gesturing to the images on the table’s screen. “But we need to figure out what it is in order to save him. Think. Think… The answer must be right in front of us.”

After a moment of thinking, Lloyd spoke up. “The Overlord’s dire wish is to become the Golden Master,” he reminded us. “Maybe that has something to do with it?”

I hummed. _I wouldn’t be surprised if it did,_ I thought. _But Lloyd gave his power to the others. How would the Overlord get it now?_ That was when another thought struck me, and I froze. _Uh oh. If he’s back, does that mean he still wants my silver power?_ I sure hoped not. If he found a way to take it from me...

“Good, Lloyd,” Sensei praised. “But what sense does all of this make? What _is_ Project Arcturus?”

Over at the console in the front of the room sat Pixal, diligently typing away on a computer. She turned around in her chair to face us. “I’ve run every combination of these clues through my database to see how they’re connected,” she announced. “But there is no correlation.”

“Maybe there’s a reason why it’s not in your database,” Zane replied, coming to some sort of realization.

“But everything in Ninjago history has been recorded inside me,” Pixal assured him.

Zane shook his head. “Not everything.” He turned to Cole and Jay. “Do you remember when we followed Garmadon back in time?”

Cole and Jay both immediately nodded.

I, however, was hopelessly confused. “Wait, wait. Hang on a sec.” When did we do that?

“Uh, we did?” Lloyd said, sounding just as confused as I was.

“Neither of you remember,” Zane explained to us, “because when we returned to the present, it had been altered by what we had done in the past.”

Garmadon hummed. “I remember, because I was there,” he announced. “You used the Golden Weapons to destroy my Mega-Weapon. But when they collided, they were shot into...”

“Space,” Sensei Wu finished, now standing at a large screen nearby. He gazed up at it, stroking his beard as he thought to himself. We all walked over to stand behind him.

A thought struck me. “Wait,” I said, turning to Jay, Cole, and Zane. “Is that why you all were laughing so much that one night like you had some sort of inside joke?”

Cole chuckled. “Maybe.”

I snorted, shaking my head. _Well, at least that memory makes sense now… Kind of._ My head was beginning to hurt just thinking about time travel and what had happened before the ninja went back.

“Since Lloyd gave away his power, the Overlord’s going after the only thing that can turn him into the Golden Master: the Golden Weapons,” Nya said, figuring it out.

“Quick, where do the Serpentine study the stars?” Garmadon asked.

Zane ran over to an empty computer, sitting down and furiously typing away. He soon came up with an answer. “The ancient city of Ouroboros!”

“I could’ve told you that,” I muttered in amusement.

“We must go there at once,” Garmadon stated.

Sensei put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “How do you know Nindroids will be there?”

Garmadon answered with a single word. “Faith.”

Me and the rest of the ninja (minus Kai) quickly suited up. I went over to a console and recharged my comm device in case I would need it. That was when something caught my eye on a nearby counter. It was a shuriken, only as big as the palm of my hand and surrounded by a bunch of metal scraps and wires, as if someone had been recently working on it. I picked it up, examining it curiously.

_I’ve always wanted to use these things._ I looked around, seeing that nobody was paying attention. _I’m sure nobody will miss it, right?_ I stuffed it into a pocket, walking over to rejoin the guys. _Besides, it might come in handy._

Wasting no more time, the five of us set out to stop the Overlord and rescue Kai. We all drove our separate vehicles out of the city and towards Ouroboros (all of us definitely knew the way there by now). The sky overhead turned to night, and stars sprinkled the darkness. It would’ve been a perfect night for stargazing, if we didn’t have a fellow ninja to save.

We arrived at Ouroboros in record time. We all drove to the arena in the center of the ancient city, grinding to a halt when we spotted nobody. I pulled up my mask, ready for action. I gazed around the city, briefly reminiscing on everything that had happened here. Now that I was older, and now that the city wasn’t crawling with hundreds of Serpentine or a giant Great Devourer, it wasn’t nearly as intimidating anymore.

“Ah, the memories,” I said as I hopped off my motorbike.

“Not very fond memories, are they?” Lloyd replied in an amused tone, walking up next to me.

I snickered. “No, not really.” I remembered how long Lloyd and I had been held here by the Serpentine in that tiny cage, cringing. And all because we’d wanted to help the ninja. “Only happened because Kai is a terrible babysitter,” I pointed out, grinning. “Does this count as karma?”

Lloyd laughed. “I say it does.”

The five of us converged in the center of the arena, still seeing no signs of Nindroids anywhere.

“I don’t get it,” Cole stated. “Where are they?”

“He said they would be here,” Lloyd reminded him.

Jay scoffed. “Well, your dad was wrong. We should’ve never listened to him.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Come on, Jay. Have a little faith.” Unlike him, I trusted Garmadon. I knew that it was hard for him and the others to do the same after fighting him for so long, but Lloyd’s father had done nothing but help so far.

Suddenly, the ground began rumbling underfoot. I had to hold my arms out in order to not lose my balance.

“I sense you are mistaken, Jay,” Zane told him.

“Aw, please tell me the Devourer’s not back, too,” I groaned, only mostly joking.

The ground suddenly split into four sections beneath our feet. They began moving downward, revealing something else beneath the ground.

“Everyone, run!” Cole shouted.

I didn’t need to be told twice. The five of us tried to scurry off of the arena’s ground as fast as we could, but unfortunately, the ground was splitting open too fast. The ground we were walking on went diagonal, causing us all to lose our balance and flop forward onto the ground. We all yelled as we tried to find something to grab onto to save us from falling. Nobody found any such thing, and the five of us went plummeting down into the hole.

A giant rocketship was there to greet us. I looked below me, seeing the others grab onto the slick surface so that their fall would be slowed somewhat. I grabbed onto it, too, sliding down the side of the rocket. Once again, there was nothing to grab onto as I fell, and I hoped that it was at least slowing me down somewhat.

We all crashed onto a metal ramp, landing on top of one another. I landed on top of Lloyd and Zane, grunting from the impact. I was glad that they’d given me something soft to land on, but I also felt guilty.

“Sorry, guys…” I groaned.

“It’s alright,” Lloyd assured me.

Jay looked up, his eyes widening. I followed his gaze and finally got a good look at the giant rocketship we’d fallen past on the way down. It looked ready for launch, and had a familiar word painted down its side.

“‘Arcturus?’” Jay read aloud.

The five of us helped each other to their feet. I peered over the railing, gulping when I spotted an army of Nindroids meandering below us. Yep, they were here, alright.

“It’s Kai!” Lloyd exclaimed softly. I ran over to his side of the ramp and looked down, seeing Kai’s legs dangling from inside one of the rocket engines. “We need to save him!”

I nodded. “We will.”

“No, we need that launch key to stop the launch command,” Zane argued, pointing to the end of the ramp. A closed metal door sat there, leading to the control room. Through the window, I could spot what he was talking about: a tiny silver key lodged in the console. “If the Overlord gets the Golden Weapons, he’ll be too powerful.”

We all nodded in agreement. The five of us scurried across the ramp, making a beeline for that door.

We didn’t get very far before a familiar voice screamed, “Stop them!”

Uh oh. That was Pythor.

The Nindroids immediately shot laser bolts at us. They struck the bottom of the walkway, destroying half of it and blasting us all up into the air. I was determined to get that key, so in that split second that I was above the walkway I failed my arms so that I fell toward the edge that was still intact. I just managed to grab onto it with both hands. Immediately afterward, something grabbed onto my sore leg, making me yelp in pain as it was yanked. I looked down, relieved to find that it was just Lloyd. The others had fallen down to where the Nindroids waited below.

“Lloyd, that’s my bad leg…” I groaned, trying to ignore the pain.

“Oops! Sorry!” he apologized.

Somehow, I managed to pull myself up with him hanging from my leg. Once I was back on the metal ramp, Lloyd grabbed onto the edge, and I turned around to tug him up. As I heard Pythor shout “Attack!” Lloyd and I stood up and scurried over to the door to the control room, knowing we had no time to lose. The rest of the walkway was unstable, and fell off the wall as we ran. Lloyd and I leapt just in time, able to grab onto the ledge where the door was. Said door slid open for us as we climbed up through it.

Lloyd and I immediately scurried over to the console where the launch key was. Just as Lloyd was about to take it out of its slot, something came out of the shadows above us. It was Cyrus Borg, being controlled like Sensei Wu had been and armed with scary-looking spider legs. He leapt on top of the control panel, knocking Lloyd away from the key before he could grab it.

“Hey! That was rude!” I charged at Borg, leaping at him and tackling him off of the console. As I fought him, Pythor slithered into the room, chuckling sinisterly. As if this couldn’t get any worse.

That was when Lloyd tackled Borg away from me. “Get the key!” he urged me, holding his own against Borg.

Nodding, I scurried back over to the control panel, only for Pythor to slither in front of me with speed I’d forgotten he had. “Nuh uh uh,” he said, wagging his finger.

“Out of my way, you overgrown snake!” I exclaimed, flipping over his head. I landed on top of the console, so close to plucking the key from the control panel. Pythor charged at me before I could, and I had to dive out of the way of his fist. I fought with him, trying to fight him off so that I could grab the key. A part of me was pleased that I could now hold my own against him, as opposed to the very first time I’d tried to fight him.

I wasn’t going to use my powers at first, but I decided that enough was enough. As Pythor spun around, trying to knock me over with his long tail, I leapt backward and summoned an orb of silver light between my hands. As Pythor made a small, hilarious noise of panic, I threw the orb of light at him. It struck him in the chest, blasting him away toward the open door. 

I smirked in triumph, turning away from him and scurrying back to the control panel. I plucked the key from its slot, breathing a sigh of relief. _Got it. No going to space for them!_

“Everyone, I need your help!”

The cry from Lloyd made my head snap over to the doorway, gasping at what I saw. Borg was holding Lloyd up by the collar of his gi, holding him over the long drop outside the room. Lloyd struggled to break free from his grasp as Pythor stood nearby, chuckling.

“Poor little Lloyd, needing help,” he goaded. “Shouldn’t have given up all that power, hmm?”

Growling at the sight, I clutched the key tightly in my fist and ran over to them. “Let him go!” I demanded, jumping into the air and sailing at Borg with a flying kick.

Pythor turned toward me at my shout, slithering into the way of my attack. “And here comes little Aurora to rescue you, as always!” 

He grabbed my foot while I was in midair, tossing me off to the side. I landed hard on my front, grunting from the impact. I hopped to my feet, going to attack him again, but he was already upon me. I swung my fist at his face, but he slithered out of the way, using the second that I was off-balanced to grab me. I tried desperately to break free of his grip, but he had me in a headlock, restraining my movement pretty well.

The Anacondrai hummed in thought. “Unlike your friend over there, you didn’t give up your power, did you, my dear girl?”

I struggled to get out of his grip. “Figure that out all by yourself?” I attempted to stomp on his tail, but it was just out of my foot’s reach. “Let go of me!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” he told me. “The Overlord still wishes to try and wield your silver power for himself, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on disappointing him.”

His words made me stop struggling. “Wait, what?” 

Uh oh. This was bad.

Before I could summon a blast of light to get myself out of there, something whacked me in the back of my head---really, really hard. Pain lanced through me, and my vision started to go black. I involuntarily dropped the launch key, barely hearing it clatter when it hit the metal floor. Even as I fought for consciousness, it was a losing battle. Just before the world went dark, the last thing I heard was Lloyd shouting my name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh. Not again. XD
> 
> I put Aurora through way too much stress.


	7. Episode 34: Do the Weekend Whip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say go slow  
> And everything just stands so still  
> We say go go  
> You're gonna see us rip into it
> 
> (Alternate Title: This Princess Saves Herself)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, we're so near the end! Just this chapter, and then next week is the finale! I always wondered why season 3 was so short... Do you guys know? Anyway, very exciting!
> 
> As for this chapter, I'll admit: it's a little weird. I wanted to really have fun with it, but I'm not sure how well my idea came out on paper. I also wanted to do something a little different rather than just sending Aurora to space with the other ninja---you know, to keep it interesting. Can't be exactly like the show, right? (Although she is a little upset that she didn't get to go to space... Forgive me, Aurora.)
> 
> And for those of you worrying about Aurora getting ninja-napped: dont worry! She's gonna be fine!
> 
> Last note, I promise: As I said before, next chapter is the (emotional) finale. I know that a week is a terribly long wait for an update, so if enough people comment saying they want me to post the finale a few days early, then I absolutely will! And with that, enjoy the chapter!  
> \------------------------------

A splitting headache greeted me when I achieved consciousness again. I groaned, scrunching my face from the painful throbbing in my head. When I managed to open my eyes, my blurry vision only lasted for a moment, and I was soon greeted with the sideways version of a familiar sight: the inside of a giant glass container.

Crap.

My limbs felt heavy as I began to move them---how long was I out for? I was laying on my side, and slowly, I was able to push myself up to a sitting position, examining my surroundings. Yep, I was definitely trapped in another one of those stupid glass containment units that I’d been in on the Overlord’s dragon-ship. The thing that none of my elemental powers seemed to be able to break. I softly groaned, more annoyed than worried that I was back in this situation _again_. One good thing I did see was that my silver power wasn’t being extracted from me.

For now.

I studied the outside surroundings as I hauled myself onto my feet. I was in a relatively small room, the floor and walls all made from a dark gray metal. The ceiling was concrete. A large computer console sat on the wall adjacent to me, and the cybernetically controlled Cyrus Borg was typing away at it. A steel door--the only exit--sat on the other end of the wall my container was sitting against. And on the far side of the room was Pythor, manning a console that sat next to some large cylindrical container that was in the corner. It had a small circular window to the inside, but the rest of it was lined with steel.

_Just great,_ I thought. _Captured again---and by the same people, too!_ This was getting really old. Couldn’t I stay free for more than one day?

I began to wonder where I was. It didn’t appear that we were in a ship of any sort, which meant that I wouldn’t have to add another crash-landing to my list. This was probably some remote, secret base that the Overlord had somewhere---probably below ground. Or, it could be a part of that facility beneath Ouroboros where the Arcturus rocket was.

Which begged another question: had the others been able to stop the launch? Clearly a lot of time had passed. Were they safe? Was Lloyd safe? Oh, he was probably worried sick about me right now…

I realized that there was only one way to get the answers I wanted. “Hey, overgrown snake. Do you not know what hospitality is?” I asked the Serpentine in the room. “This thing isn’t exactly comfortable.”

Pythor turned his head toward me at the sound of my voice. “Well, look who decided to wake up.” He then frowned. “I was hoping that you would remain unconscious for at least another hour, so I wouldn’t have to listen to more of your annoying comments…”

“Hey buddy, like I told you before, you should’ve had these things soundproofed,” I replied, gesturing to my prison. I leaned against the glass casually, smirking like the brat I was. “I offered you more good advice, and you _still_ didn’t take it! I don’t know whether to be offended or disappointed, Palethor.”

The demeaning nickname evoked another angry reaction from him. “That’s _not_ my name!” he yelled at me.

I snickered. “Well, duh. That’s why it’s funny.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t you understand the concept of a joke? Or did you lose that in the bowels of the Devourer along with your good looks?”

Pythor looked like he was about to flip his lid; I had clearly made him furious with my comments again. And I was very proud of myself for it. He deserved it after all he’d put me and my friends through. 

I had to laugh at his tense, angry face. “You’re too easy,” I told him.

“Humor is often used to mask fear.”

My smile vanished at the sound of the familiar creepy, distorted voice. My gaze went to the strange container that was next to Pythor. Through the small window, two glowing red eyes stared out at me, narrowed in such a way that they sent chills down my spine. 

The Overlord. He really _had_ survived, and had seemingly escaped the digiverse, too.

Wiping any fear from my face, I sighed tiredly. “Why won’t villains just stay gone?” I asked. “Like seriously, can you just stay dead? Please?” At this point, I was a little done with all of this. “How are you even still around, anyway? The ninja destroyed you in the digiverse.”

“They were unable to stop me from escaping,” the Overlord explained. “I stole enough of the Golden Ninja’s power and used it to return to the outside world once again. And once I obtain the Golden Weapons, I can finally become the Golden Master!”

I huffed. “If you’re so obsessed with becoming the Golden Master, then what do you need _me_ for?” I asked him. “Silver isn’t gold, you know.” From what I’d seen, Lloyd’s power was stronger than mine.

“Now that your friend has given up all his power, your silver power is the greatest threat that stands in my way,” he told me. “After I become the Golden Master, I will take your power for my own. I will become the most powerful being in the land, and nothing will ever be able to stop me again!”

His proclamation made me roll my eyes. _Classic cliché power-hungry villain._ He and Pythor deserved each other.

That was when the door to the room opened, and a single Nindroid walked into the room. He stood proudly, addressing the Overlord. “The preparations have been made.”

“Good,” the Overlord said from inside his container. “Tell your Nindroids to move out immediately. We must reclaim the tower before General Kryptor returns with the Golden Weapons.”

Uh oh. The others hadn’t been able to stop Arcturus from launching.

The Nindroid nodded, leaving the room. Two other Nindroids, who had apparently been standing guard outside the room, scurried inside. They went over to the container that the Overlord resided in and began working together to push him out of the room.

“So sorry to cut this quality time short,” Pythor told me in a fake pleasant tone, smirking as he and Borg followed their master from the room, “but we really must be going. We’ll be back before you know it, so...sit tight.” He made his creepy, sinister chuckle as all of them left the room, closing the door behind them.

I rolled my eyes again, shaking my head. “‘Sit tight,’” I mocked, doing my best to mimic his voice. “That’s hilarious.” Glancing around again at my metal and glass prison, unintentionally reminding myself of how unbreakable it was, I huffed in frustration before sitting down in front of the glass. “Why me?” I groaned.

You’re gifted with amazing power, and all it brings you is trouble. Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way---but it did get annoying at times.

I sighed, leaning against the glass as I thought to myself for a bit. Since the guys had apparently been unable to stop the launch, I knew that they were most likely doing everything else they could to try and prevent the Overlord from getting the Golden Weapons. Which meant that they wouldn’t be coming to my rescue for a while---and I was alright with that. Stopping the Overlord was far more important than saving me.

But that didn’t mean that I couldn’t save myself. I would _never_ give up my power to the Overlord, and I planned to do everything I could to keep it from his clutches. I began to think of ways to try and escape from this stupid containment unit. If I didn’t escape before the Overlord came back, it would spell doom for me. My elemental powers wouldn’t work, unfortunately. The only reason I’d gotten out last time was because there had been an explosion…

I shifted to make myself more comfortable, and something poked me through the fabric of my ninja gi. Confused, I reached into a pocket and pulled out the small shuriken that I’d taken before leaving Borg Tower. I’d completely forgotten I even had it. Not like it would be much help now. I mindlessly turned it over in my hands as I tried to think of ways to escape, studying the small metal weapon. It must’ve been something that Cyrus Borg had been working on---before, well, you know.

As I absentmindedly looked at it, my eyes caught sight of a small symbol in the shuriken’s center. It kind of resembled some sort of seven-pointed star, but I couldn’t figure out what it stood for. I rubbed my thumb over the symbol, and was surprised when I felt it...move? I touched it again, and when I pressed down, it made a _click_ noise. It was a button.

That was when the shuriken started beeping.

It was a high-pitched beeping that repeated over and over again, starting out at a slow tempo. When the sound began picking up speed, a terrible realization crossed my mind: the only thing that made a sound like that was a bomb.

My eyes flew wide, and I tossed the shuriken to the ground as if it were on fire, immediately scurrying to the other side of the container---which wasn’t far from the beeping object at all. I tried to figure out what to do and how to protect myself, if the thing really was gonna explode. An idea popped into my mind, and I summoned my light, using it to create an elemental shield around me. I crouched down in the protective bubble, covering my ears and closing my eyes.

The next moment, an explosion rocked the container. A fearful yelp escaped me, but thankfully, my shield of silver light held strong. Only when the vibrations in the ground settled did I dare to open my eyes and stand up. The sight before me made my mouth drop open. An entire section of the thick glass wall had been blown to bits, leaving a gaping hole that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. The shattered glass was scattered everywhere, but the container still remained standing. There was nothing left of the small shuriken.

“Holy unholy,” I breathed out, still a little shocked. “Wow…”

Hesitantly, I let my elemental shield disappear. That shuriken had been a tiny explosive?! Honestly, the idea of explosive throwing stars sounded amazing. I realized that Borg had probably been tinkering with them for us ninja, and I had found what he’d been working on. That was definitely...convenient.

Well, a lot of uncanny, strangely convenient things had happened in my life already. It didn’t really surprise me that much anymore.

“Thank you Cyrus Borg,” I muttered, smiling.

_Well, what are you standing around for?_ I asked myself. _You’re free!_

Grinning, I ran and leapt over the glass pieces and through the hole, landing gracefully outside the containment unit. I went over to the steel door, stopping next to it. Grabbing the handle, I slowly pulled it, testing to see if it was locked or not.

It wasn’t, much to my relief.

_Hang on,_ I thought, _first they don’t check me for weapons, and then they don’t lock the door when they leave?_ Overconfidence or just classic stupidity? _Think about it later, Aurora._

Gingerly, I tugged the heavy door open, only opening it enough so I could see outside. Peeking through the tiny crack, I looked down the long hallway beyond, waiting for any Nindroids to appear. Unlike the metal room, the hallway was gray concrete on all sides. I mused that I was either underground, or in a building with no windows. When no one appeared after a minute of waiting, I slowly slipped through the door, closing it behind me once I was outside. Then, I took off running down the hallway.

My feet were light as a leaf as they rapidly padded across the concrete floor. I dashed through hallway after hallway, staying as quiet as possible and keeping an ear out for any approaching Nindroids. The hallways were long, but at least there was only one way to go, so it would be hard for me to get lost.

I ran down the quiet hallways unhindered for a few minutes. Then at one point, I started to turn a corner, but immediately dived back behind the wall when I saw what lay ahead of me. I stood against the wall for a tense moment, then slowly peeked around the corner. The hallway ended there, and opened up into a large room, as wide as it was high. Along the walls were a bunch of crates, vehicles, and tech equipment that I couldn’t identify if I tried. There seemed to be only one other exit, directly across from where I was and all the way at the other end of the large room.

The room was also crawling with dozens of Nindroids.

I gulped, ducking back behind the corner. _Okay,_ I thought. _There’s a small army of Nindroids standing between me and the exit._ Briefly peeking around the corner again, I studied the room for any alternate routes. _And there doesn’t seem to be any way I can sneak past them without being spotted._ The room was too brightly lit, and there were too many Nindroids meandering about. _The only way out is to go through them. And remember, you can’t use your powers on them, so your only defenses are your ninja skills and your Spinjitzu. And there are about...twenty of them against one of you._

“Oh boy…” I muttered aloud.

_I can do this_ , I began telling myself. _I can do this. I'm the Yellow Ninja. I’ve faced worse than this, right? I’ve fought the Overlord. I’ve fought the Great Devourer while on the back of a dragon. I whacked Pythor in the face when I was only ten years old._ I’d fought harder battles, right? Of course, I hadn’t been alone for any of those. My comm’s signal was being jammed, so this time, I was alone.

_No you’re not! Remember what you told Lloyd?_ I reminded myself. _You’re never alone! You’ve got people out there who care about you. They’re waiting for you. And they would be telling you the same thing: you can do this!_

I inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to calm my racing heart. I could do this. I was a ninja---and ninja never quit. Which reminded me… Perhaps now would be a good time to see if the theme song I’d written was actually inspiring or not. I’d finally finished writing it, before this whole mess started.

Preparing myself for a fight, I pulled up my mask and mentally counted myself down. _Three… Two… One… Go!_

I leapt out from my hiding place, standing tall in the entryway. “Hey, bucket-heads!”

Every Nindroid froze, and all attention immediately turned to me.

I smiled, waving casually at them. “How’s it going? You guys getting paid enough for this?”

All of them turned to me and charged, rushing straight for me with brandished weapons and fists. They let out a cacophony of battle cries and brandished weapons, but I stood there silently, waiting patiently and still smiling beneath my mask. When the small army of Nindroids neared my side of the room, I sprinted toward them, and began to sing:

“ _It’s time for training and we’re getting started_

_It’s on, you know_

_And we wanna see you whip and shout it_

_We rock, you roll”_

At first, I sang softly to myself. Just as I was about to crash into the sea of Nindroids, I leapt high over their heads. I landed on one, hopping off of his head and onto another head. I continued hopping from head to head, trying to make my way over to a tall stack of crates that was wobbling precariously.

“ _They say go slow_

_And everything just stands so still_

_We say go go!_

_We’re ready for the fight, we know the drill”_

Leaping off of one more robot head, I reached up high and latched onto the top crate. My weight was enough for the entire tower to slowly topple over, falling down right on top of the sea of Nindroids. A few of them cried out in terror, and I pushed myself off the crate before it crashed onto the ground, crushing a dozen Nindroids beneath its weight.

“ _Monday morning and we feel defeated_

_Seems so long ago_

_Tuesday’s coming, we just keep on beating_

_‘Till we’re in our zone”_

Smirking, I faced the remaining Nindroids as they turned to me. A bunch of them charged at me, and I readied myself for the fight of my life.

“ _They say go slow_

_And everything just stands so still_

_We say go go!_

_You’re gonna see us rip into it”_

Right before they reached me, I let out a huge, bright burst of light---not a physical blast, but a light that blinded them with its sheer intensity. While they clutched at their electronic eyes, their optics temporarily blinded, I took my moment to strike. Leaping into action, I began punching and kicking them left and right, fighting them with everything I had.

“ _Just jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin_

_And then we jump back, do it again_

_Ninja, go!”_

As I sang the two words, I twisted into my silver tornado of Spinjitzu, crashing into every Nindroid that was unlucky enough to be around me. By now, I was singing proudly at the top of my lungs.

“ _Ninja, come on, come on_

_We’re gonna do it again”_

Continuing to do Spinjitzu, I began heading for the exit, plowing through every Nindroid in my path. Amazingly, at this point, most of them had been incapaciatated.

_"We just jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin_

_And then we jump back, do it again_

_Ninja, go!_

_Ninja, come on, come on_

_And do the weekend whip! Yeah!”_

I came out of my Spinjitzu vortex, now standing inside the other hallway I’d been aiming for. Looking out across the room, I was met with the satisfying sight of many smashed or fallen Nindroids littering the floor. A few were still stumbling around, unable to see from my light blinding them. I took a brief moment to pat myself on the back, but then saw the remaining Nindroids sprinting toward me.

The hallway ahead of me was larger than the one I’d been scurrying through earlier. Scolding myself for not thinking of it sooner, I used my power to summon my yellow motorbike beneath me. Revving the engine, I hit the gas and sped off down the hallway, leaving the remaining Nindroids in my dust.

I couldn’t resist cheering as I flew down the long hallway. “Woo-hoo!”

However, I was celebrating prematurely. Two Nindroids, also on motorbikes, zoomed out of a side hallway ahead of me and blocked my path. My smile vanished, and I swiftly turned my bike to make a hard right down another side hallway before where they were parked. As I tried not to crash into the wall, I looked back and saw the two of them giving chase. I turned my gaze forward, speeding up and looking for a way out of this crazy place they called a secret base as I continued to sing:

“ _Wednesday morning and we soon discover_

_We gotta push our game_

_We slept on Thursday just to get it over_

_The whip’s a day away”_

Another Nindroid soon joined the pursuit party, and then another. Then another. I urged my bike to go faster. Where were the exits in this stupid place?

“ _They say go slow_

_And everything just stands so still_

_We say go go!_

_You’re gonna see us rip into it_

_Just jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin_

_And then we jump back, do it again_

_Ninja, go!_

_Ninja, come on, come on_

_We’re gonna do it again_

_We just jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin_

_And then we jump back, do it again_

_Ninja, go!_

_Ninja, come on, come on_

_And do the weekend whip!”_

Singing as I escaped was actually helping me not to panic. Eventually, I approached a dead end, but there was a closed door at the end of it. Somehow, I knew it was the way out. I sped over to it, then leapt off my bike as it vanished. Knowing that the Nindroids were almost on top of me, I hurried through the door, slamming it shut behind me. A stairwell sat before me, spiraling upward along the walls.

I sighed. _Yep. Definitely underground._ Knowing I had no time to lose, I scurried over to the stairs and began dashing up the steps, continuously turning right as I steadily climbed upward. The door I’d come through slammed open just as I reached the second flight, and I quickly glanced down at it to see a dozen more Nindroids swarming into the stairwell. I picked up the pace, lifting my feet as fast as I possibly could as I ascended the mountain of steps.

“ _They say no no_

_But we don’t wanna sit around no more_

_We say go go!_

_You’re gonna see us rip into it”_

Even while running at my fastest sprint, the Nindroids were gaining on me. I was a ninja, but I was still only human; I’d grow tired eventually, while my robotic pursuers had no such limitations. I needed to think of a way to stop them before they caught up with me.

As I ran and wracked my brain for ideas, the words of Sensei Garmadon popped into my head: _“You’ve only scratched the surface. You both have the potential to move mountains.”_

Move mountains… That’s it!

Reaching the top of yet another flight of steps, I screeched to a halt, turning around. The Nindroids were charging up the stairs only one flight below me, and if I didn’t act fast, they would reach me. Closing my eyes, I calmed myself, finding the elemental power within me. The metal stairs were attached to the thick concrete walls that surrounded us, and I reached out to connect with them. I focused hard, finding the balance within me. _“Center yourself, and move the mountain with your mind.”_

My eyes snapped open. Just as the Nindroids began climbing the flight of steps I stood at the end of, I reached out my arm toward the concrete wall. As I swept my arm in front of me, a large chunk of concrete cracked then burst from the wall. It collided with the Nindroids unlucky enough to already be ascending the steps, and shoved them off the stairs, sending them falling back down to the bottom of the stairwell. The remaining Nindroids on the other side of it halted, startled by the sudden attack. Before they could move, I ran down the steps and pushed the giant chunk of concrete over, making it fall on top of the Nindroids and crushing them beneath its weight.

I couldn’t help but smile and jump for joy. “Yes!” I cheered. “Take that!” With my pursuers taken care of, I turned around and resumed my rapid ascent up the stairs. It was time to get the heck out of here.

_“Just jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin_

_And then we jump back, do it again_

_Ninja, go!_

_Ninja, come on, come on_

_We’re gonna do it again_

_We just jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin_

_And then we jump back, do it again_

_Ninja, go!_

_Ninja, come on, come on_

_And do the weekend whip!”_

As I neared the end of the song, I finally arrived at the top of the winding staircase. I threw open the door at the top, bursting into another room. It was only half the size of the giant room downstairs, but I was relieved to see a few windows on the walls. There were also a few more Nindroids there, but only four of them. I spotted the exit and made a beeline for it. The Nindroids ran at me, trying to stop my escape, but I fought them off as they attacked me. I jumped at the first one and knocked him over, I kicked behind me as the second one tried to punch me, and I whipped my arm around and smashed the third one’s face with my fist. The fourth one stood stubbornly in front of the door, and I charged at him, spinning into my Spinjitzu vortex before crashing into him.

“ _Ninja, go!_

_Ninja, come on, come on, come on_

_And do the weekend whip_

_Jump up, kick back, whip around, and spin!”_

I burst from the door and into the lovely, warm embrace of the sun’s rays. I ran a few feet from the door, stopping to catch my breath and pull my mask off my face. I glanced backward to see if anyone was pursuing me, but thankfully, nobody was. 

As I tried to catch my breath, I took in my surroundings. It looked like I was at some sort of abandoned warehouse district on the outskirts of New Ninjago City. As I panted in exhaustion, I began laughing, hardly believing what had just happened. I laughed triumphantly, doing a little happy dance as I basked in the sunlight. The dance was cut short as my bad leg started aching again, and I cringed from the pain. I had forgotten about it this whole time, and I’d been kicking metal Nindroids with it.

Well, I escaped. That was all that mattered.

_What now?_ I thought, telling myself to stop celebrating and focus on the crisis at hand. I needed to find the others. I wasn’t sure where Lloyd and the guys were right now, but Nya, Sensei Wu, Sensei Garmadon, and Pixal would all probably still be at Borg Tower. They would know where the others were.

_Hang on. Didn’t the Overlord say something about “reclaiming the tower?”_

“Uh oh,” I muttered. I had to get to Borg Tower, and fast.

I used my powers to summon my motorbike again, immediately taking off into the city. I sped down the streets, remembering the way to Borg Tower and taking the fastest route there. I passed a few people on the way there, and yelled apologies to them as they scurried out of my way. The tower soon came into sight--right where I’d first fought the Overlord not too long ago--and I headed straight for it. Just before I reached it, I spotted Nindroids guarding the entrance, and screeched my bike to a halt on an adjacent street.

“Oh no.” They were already here, and had already infiltrated the tower. I knew I probably couldn’t fight my way through them---not on my own, anyway. A tower full of Nindroids was far different than a small underground base full of them. Plus, there was also Pythor, Borg, and the Overlord himself to worry about. No way could I take the three of them and the majority of the Nindroid army on all by myself.

My gaze went up to the top of the tower. _If the others are still here, they’ll be up on the top floor._ They probably would be; it hadn’t been that long since the Overlord left the base I’d been imprisoned in. _Only one way to find out._ But how to get up there quickly? _I wish I could summon the golden dragon…_

That was when I spotted a high-tech vehicle nearby. A lot of vehicles were still littering the streets at random ever since the boys had killed the power; I’d passed what looked like a tank on my way here. The vehicle near me looked like some sort of futuristic helicopter...or maybe a jet? Whatever it was, it could fly and could get me to the top of that tower.

_Once again, strangely convenient._ Well, I wasn’t complaining.

I made my bike vanish and scurried over to the hovercraft, leaping into the driver’s seat. It had way more buttons and features than the Destiny’s Bounty, but I was confident that I could still fly it. I managed to figure out how to start it up, and soon I was ascending into the air. I then quickly steered the hovercraft toward Borg Tower. 

Now that I was higher up, I could see the situation as I approached the building. Nindroids, Borg, and Pythor were standing at the edge of the shattered glass window, cornering four figures on the helicopter landing platform attached to the tower. I recognized them as Nya, Sensei Wu, Sensei Garmadon, and Pixal, all carrying some form of computer equipment as the Nindroids shot laser bolts at them.

_Time for a rescue!_ I swooped in on the hovercraft, pulling up beside the landing platform and waving as everyone’s attention turned to me.

“Somebody call for a taxi?” I asked playfully. Sadly, it was the best quip I could think of on the fly.

“Aurora!” Nya cried out, smiling at the sight of me. She and the others wore expressions of both shock and relief. “You’re here!”

“What?! You?!” an angry Pythor bellowed from the window. “How did you already escape?!”

“Easily,” I replied, smirking at him. “You didn’t check me for weapons when you kidnapped me, stupid. I was carrying an explosive.”

Pythor looked exasperated. “Since when do ninja carry explosives?!”

“Since the future!” I informed him, gesturing all around us. “Duh!”

He made a loud, enraged noise that sounded like a cross between a groan and a growl. He pointed up at me, shouting at the Nindroids. “Blast her!”

The Nindroids began directing their laser bolts toward the hovercraft I was flying.

“We must leave! Now!” Sensei Wu urged. He and the others quickly clambered into the hovercraft, climbing into the unoccupied seats behind me. “Aurora, get us out of here.”

“Aye, aye!” I replied, giving him a playful salute. I steered the hovercraft away from the tower, turning on the afterburners and speeding out of range of the Nindroids’ fire. We were quickly home free.

Nya leaned over to my seat and grabbed me in a hug from behind. “I’m so glad you’re okay!” she exclaimed in relief.

I laughed, taking a hand off the steering and patting her arm. “That makes two of us, Nya.”

“The boys told us that you had been kidnapped,” Sensei Wu said.

I nodded, smirking. “I was. But by some miracle, I was able to escape on my own.” I was quite proud of myself, actually. “Believe me, it wasn’t easy---but I guess I just got really lucky.”

“In my experience, there’s no such thing as luck. What matters is that you’re safe,” Garmadon told me, leaning over to my seat. “Now, take us to my monastery. We’ll be safe there.” He sighed. “I hope the city can survive without us...”

“So too the ninja, I pray,” Sensei Wu added, gazing out the window.

I did as I was told, steering the ship in the direction of Garmadon’s monastery. I looked forward to visiting the serene, peaceful valley again; maybe I could finally relax a little.

As if I’d ever be able to truly relax while the Overlord was still out there.

Nya filled me in on what was happening, Sensei Wu and Garmadon chiming in here and there. Apparently, right now the boys were in outer space. In _outer space_! Without me! They’d hitched a ride on the Arcturus rocketship and followed the Nindroids out into space to stop them from getting the Golden Weapons. Garmadon made it clear how much he didn’t approve of the idea, and I could tell they were all worried about them. I mean, ninja? In space? I began to worry about them, too.

Another part of me was jealous. There had been an opportunity to go to space, and I’d missed out on it. Stupid Pythor.

We soon arrived at the monastery, just as peaceful as I remembered it. Night had fallen by the time we were walking up the road to the elegant building. There were no adorable kids to greet us this time---they were probably all asleep.

Misako greeted us at the door. She surprised me with another hug, which I happily returned. She brought the four of us into the large training room where we’d sat through a lesson from Garmadon barely a week ago. I was glad to be in a safe place once again, and took advantage of this time to rest.

We quickly set up shop, Nya and Pixal assembling the equipment they’d escaped with so that we could communicate with the boys. I helped in whatever way I could. Soon it was all set up, however crude, and each of us received a headset.

Sensei Wu immediately tried speaking to them, but the signal was shoddy at best. “Ninja? Can you hear me?” he asked. He was trying to inform them of the dangers of the comet they were on; Pixal and Nya had discovered that the wildlife there was less-than-friendly. “Don’t disturb the alien life. Come in, ninja.”

I shook my head. “Even if we warn them, they’ll probably end up messing with it anyway,” I muttered to myself. It was the guys we were talking about, after all. I’d be surprised if they _didn’t_ get into any trouble.

After a few more long minutes of trying to establish contact, there was a response. “ _Hello? Sensei? Nya?_ ”

That was Kai! I sighed in relief at the sound of his voice. _They’re okay._

“We’re here, Kai,” Sensei assured him.

I figured that I should probably let them know I was alright. “You guys went to space without me?” I asked, faking offense. “I’m not sure I can ever forgive you.”

_“Aurora!_ ” the five boys exclaimed in shock.

“ _Y-You’re alright!_ ” came Lloyd’s relieved cry. I was relieved to hear his voice, too. “ _Oh thank goodness..._ ”

“ _What happened?_ ” Kai asked.

“ _Lloyd told us that Pythor kidnapped you_ ,” Cole said.

I snickered. “He did,” I confirmed. “But, as we all know, Pythor is an idiot. I was able to escape on my own.”

“ _Really?_ ” Jay replied. “ _Well, color me impressed!_ ”

“ _I-I’m sorry we didn’t come after you_ ,” Lloyd apologized, sounding guilty. “ _We had to stop the Nindroids from getting the Golden Weapons, and---”_

“No, don’t be sorry!” I quickly replied. “Ninjago comes first, and you guys had no choice but to follow them to space instead of coming to rescue me. I completely understand.”

Lloyd sighed. “ _I’m glad that you’re safe_ ,” he told me. I could hear the immense relief in his tone.

I giggled. “So am I. But we can talk about me later,” I promised, getting back on track. “You guys need to know something about that comet.”

“You must not disturb the alien life,” Sensei repeated into his headset. “They are very dangerous. Can you hear me?”

There was a muffled response from Kai as the connection went bad again. “ _I couldn’t make that out, Sensei_ ,” he replied, his voice staticy and cutting in and out. “ _What did you say?_ ”

“The alien life,” Sensei repeated again. “They’re dangerous.”

Misako walked into the room with a steaming pot of fresh tea. She poured it into a cup for each of us, and I accepted it gratefully, thanking her. The warm beverage was soothing to my tired muscles. Hanging around a sensei who constantly drank tea was admittedly giving me a taste for it.

Nya explained the situation to the boys, reading from a book. “A few years ago, scientists studied a meteorite that had fallen to Ninjago. It most likely came from the same comet you’re on. Inside the meteorite, there were the fossilized remains of some kind of parasite that feeds on metal alloys.”

“ _They tickle!_ ” I heard Zane say, on the verge of laughing.

“Zane!” I exclaimed into my headset. “Don’t touch them! They’re gonna eat you!”

As if on cue, I heard him say “ _Ow!_ ”

“Do you hear me?” Nya urged. “Whatever you do, don’t come in contact with the parasites. They eat through metal!”

I heard a loud buzzing noise from the other end, and I grew worried for the others.

“ _They’re eating through my exoskeleton!_ ” Zane exclaimed.

“ _Bad Glowy! Bad!_ ” Jay scolded.

“ _They’re on me, too!_ ” Kai shouted.

“ _They’re everywhere!_ ”

The five of them all started shouting and yelling, supposedly trying to get the alien parasites off of them. I facepalmed. _Yep. Called it._

“ _What do we do?_ ” I heard Zane ask the others. “ _Any ideas, guys?_ ”

“ _Space. Why did we come to space?_ ” Cole grumbled. “ _If I could change any circumstance, I‘d change ever coming here in the first place._ ”

I snorted. “Hey, I’d gladly trade places with you, Cole.” I so wished that I was with them right now.

“ _If you can’t change your circumstances, change your mind,_ ” Lloyd stated, coming to some sort of realization.

“ _Now’s not the time to be quoting Wu_ ,” Jay told him.

“ _No, I finally see what he means,_ ” Lloyd replied. “ _This is just like the Starteeth. Come on, I’ve got an idea._ ”

We all sat and listened to their words as they went about their mission, hoping that they would all stay safe. The signal kept cutting in and out, but from what I could hear, Lloyd had the brilliant idea of sicking the alien parasites on the Nindroids. It worked out pretty well for them. They were trying to get some sort of launch key so they could get off of the comet once they stopped the Nindroids. I sat anxiously, praying that they would succeed.

“ _You should see us. We’re kicking butt!_ ” Lloyd reported as they chased the Nindroids. “ _Wish you were here, Rose._ ”

I groaned. “Please don’t remind me that I didn’t get to go to space…”

After several long minutes, the five of them all started cheering in triumph. I took that to mean they’d won the fight.

“ _We’re home free!_ ” Jay exclaimed.

Just as I was about to jump for joy, I heard a horrified gasp from Lloyd. There was a commotion, but I couldn’t make out what had happened, as the connection fizzled in and out again. Then, I heard Lloyd mutter a defeated “ _No…_ ”

“ _They got away,_ ” Kai reported solemnly. “ _We failed. I repeat, they got the Golden Weapons._ ”

“What?!” I exclaimed.

“Are you on the rocket?” Nya asked them frantically. “Can you stop them?”

“ _No,_ ” Kai replied, making my heart sink. “ _The ship is destroyed. We’re not coming home._ ”

My eyes widened, and I exchanged looks of dismay with the others. The boys had no way home… The Nindroids had the Golden Weapons… The Overlord had taken Borg Tower for his own again… We were losing, big time.

What were we going to do now?


	8. Episode 35: The Titanium Ninja

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to defeat the Overlord...again.
> 
> But at what cost?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Argh, I couldn't wait any longer! The last chapter is here, ahead of schedule!
> 
> Okay... It's that time, my friends. You all know what's about to happen here.
> 
> ...Or do you?
> 
> Grab your tissues and hang on tight! Here comes the season finale!  
> \------------------------------

Despite the odds not being in our favor, I refused to give up. No matter what it took, we were gonna help the boys get home. We all needed to be together, now more than ever---and I did not miraculously escape a base full of Nindroids by myself just to never see Lloyd and the other boys again. Everyone worked together to try and figure out a way for the boys to get off the comet---but even after a while, we were still having no luck.

“ _These bugs just keep coming_ ,” Kai grumbled as they tried to fight off the alien bugs that swarmed them. “ _We are going nowhere_.”

“ _Nya, there’s no way we’re getting off this planet_ ,” Jay stated. “ _Any last words, my darling?_ ”

“ _How about ‘It was always you, Cole. I won’t be able to carry on without you,_ ’” Cole interjected.

I facepalmed. “Seriously, you two? Now’s not the time for that.” Oh dear, there really _was_ a love triangle going on between the three of them. I felt sympathy for Nya---that had to be a hard thing to deal with.

“She’s right!” Nya quickly agreed. “Can’t I care for both of you? Now just don’t give up.”

“ _My dad was right_ ,” I heard Lloyd mutter. “ _I should’ve never given up my golden power. We could have all been home. Now the Overlord has all he needs to become the Golden Master._ ”

“Don’t say that,” Garmadon told him before I could. “ _I_ was wrong. You must trust your friends. Trust yourself.”

“Don’t give up hope, Lloyd,” I urged him, trying to calm my own worry as well as his. “We’ll figure this out, I know it.”

Pixal, who was over at another computer with Misako, turned to us with a frown. “They’ve returned with the Golden Weapons,” she announced. “It’s only a matter of time.”

“Search for the power within,” Sensei Wu told the boys, “and then realize the greatness within each other.”

“ _He’s right,_ ” Lloyd agreed. “ _We can get off this planet_.”

“ _What about your green power, Lloyd?_ ” Kai inquired.

“ _It’s too far_ ,” Zane answered for him. “ _He’d never be able to keep his focus that long._ ”

I sighed to myself, wishing for the dozenth time that I was out there with them. I hated sitting around while they were in trouble. And in outer space.

“ _No one happens to have a build-your-own-rocket kit handy, do they?_ ” Cole asked jokingly.

“ _Whoa,_ ” Lloyd gasped in realization. “ _That’s it!_ ”

“ _You have a build-your-own-rocket_ _kit?!_ ” Jay exclaimed, making me snicker.

“ _No, but we can make one_ ,” Lloyd explained. “ _Arcturus may not fly, but she’ll give us all the metal we need. And Zane knows this solar system better than anyone._ ”

“ _And Kai’s fire could weld the missing parts_ ,” Zane added, catching on.

“ _Cole’s manpower could do all the heavy lifting_ ,” Kai suggested.

“ _Jay has enough electricity and nerd knowledge to make a halfway believable spacecraft_ ,” Cole stated.

Jay laughed at his words, then stopped. “ _Hey!_ ” After his protest, he thought about it for a moment, then said, “ _Hey. This could actually work._ ”

“You can do it, guys!” I cheered for them.

“ _Let’s fire this thing up and see if she’ll fly_ ,” Kai stated.

I listened as the five of them all worked together to build their own rocketship using their elemental powers and knowledge at their disposal. They worked fast, and I was impressed by how quickly they scraped something together. Once it was finished and they were all inside, they sounded off.

“ _Boosters?_ ” Lloyd inquired.

“ _Check_ ,” Kai replied.

“ _Electronics?_ ”

“ _Check,_ ” Jay replied.

“ _Navigation?_ ”

“ _Check_ ,” Zane replied.

“ _How are we holding together?_ ” Lloyd asked.

“ _Bubble gum and a wish_ ,” Cole answered.

“ _Let’s go home, fellas_ ,” Lloyd stated.

I crossed my fingers as they launched their makeshift rocketship, praying that they would escape the planet.

After a few long, tense seconds of anxiously waiting, Nya exclaimed, “They have liftoff!”

Everyone cheered, high-fiving and fist-pumping in triumph. I was beyond relieved; the boys were coming home at last!

It wasn’t long before they sent word that they were nearing Ninjago. We all scrambled out of Garmadon’s monastery, heading for the outskirts of New Ninjago City in order to meet up with them. I raced along the road on my yellow motorbike, Nya flew in her Samurai X suit, and the others travelled on other vehicles that happened to be accessible. The boys’ ship broke apart on reentry, but they were able to use elemental shields to prevent from burning up as they fell into the atmosphere.

“ _I hate to bring this up now, but a few parachutes would’ve come in handy_ ,” Cole stated over the comms.

“ _Friends and family make a good substitute_ ,” Kai told him.

I smiled at his words. “We’re here for you, guys!”

“Coordinating catch,” Pixal announced. She was directing the boys’ vehicles to them as she drove a motorcycle. “Be on the lookout. Kai, go for fifty-six degrees north, twelve east.”

Craning my neck to look to the skies, I saw five colorful orbs diving through the sky. The red-orange orb landed right on the fighter jet that came swooping upward. _That’s one_ , I thought.

“Zane, you’re next,” Pixal announced.

“ _Don’t worry, I’ve got you_ ,” Zane replied, landing in his approaching hover-copter with ease.

_That’s two_.

Cole, Jay, and Lloyd all cried, “Ninja, go!” as they fell through the sky. Cole and Jay landed inside their respective vehicles, and Lloyd summoned his green motorbike right before hitting the ground. I let out a breath I hadn’t even known I’d been holding. _And that’s the rest of them_ , I thought, relieved.

“Welcome home, ninja,” Sensei Wu greeted.

Everyone assembled together, parking and landing their impressive vehicles near each other. It probably looked pretty awesome from an outside perspective. I found myself next to Lloyd, and the two of us exchanged relieved smiles at finally seeing one another in person. I wanted to go over hug him so, so badly, but realized that this probably wasn’t the time for that.

“Brother, I can’t remember the last time we fought together on the same team,” Garmadon commented to Sensei Wu, smiling as he reminisced.

“I have the city in my sights,” Zane announced, turning toward New Ninjago City ahead.

The city emitted a strange purple glow, and smoke was rising from several places inside beyond the high walls that surrounded the outskirts. The Overlord was already beginning his attack, finally returned to a true physical form once again.

“City?” Jay echoed incredulously. “That’s not a city! That’s an impenetrable fortress!”

“Behind that wall, the Golden Master has the power of the first Spinjitzu master,” Garmadon reminded everyone.

Suddenly, something popped up on my bike’s screen. It was Cyrus Borg, apparently free of the tech that’d been controlling him. It was a pre-recorded video message of some sort. “ _Ninja, if you get this message, I’ve managed to escape and have found refuge within the Temple of Fortitude here in the city_.”

“Temple of Fortitude?” I echoed, confused. There was a temple in the city? I thought I knew everything about Ninjago City by now.

“That was left over from the Stone Wars,” Sensei explained. “The Overlord used it as a stronghold against the power of the first Spinjitzu master.”

“It has a sacred seal of protection that can resist the golden power,” Garmadon added. “Very clever.”

The video message ended with a promising note. “ _If you can make it here alive, I think I have a device that could defeat him_.” Borg’s image disappeared, leaving the screen dark again.

“Then we have to get to that temple,” Lloyd proclaimed. “Everyone, stay together.”

With that, we all rolled out, zooming down the road and heading straight for New Ninjago City. I had a moment of deja vu back to not too long ago, when we were all fleeing the city after the Overlord had first returned. This time, we wouldn’t run away. We would defeat the Overlord once and for all, no matter what.

_No matter what…_ The words echoed inside my head, and I realized something. _Hang on. The Overlord told me that my silver power would become his greatest threat once he became the Golden Master._ Did that mean I could use it on him again? _If I’m able to use my silver power to destroy him, even if he’s the Golden Master, then that’s the best way to defeat him, right?_ After all, it had been mine and Lloyd’s powers combined that had vanquished him before. _But he has the golden power of the Golden Weapons now… So how much of my power would it take to defeat him?_

I was snapped from my thoughts when Lloyd spoke again. “Kai. You, Nya, and Zane take the high road. We’ll make our own road.”

I smirked, pulling up my mask. “Let’s do this!”

Following Lloyd’s lead, I drove behind him as he zoomed straight for a building. He drove his bike off a large boulder and into a broken window. I followed him, flying through the window and through the abandoned office beyond it. I sped out another window on the other side, emerging inside the city. Under different circumstances, it would’ve been lots of fun.

The others that were also on the ground level smashed their own hole in the wall. Kai, Nya, and Zane all flew up and over the towering buildings, despite them rising higher. Zane mentioned something about this being the Overlord’s turf, so he made the rules. Like that was fair.

Everyone made it inside the city, zooming through the streets and beelining it for the Temple of Fortitude. I stuck close to Lloyd, taking a moment to gaze at the scene around us. The city was in chaos; vehicles were overturned or floating in the air, people ran around screaming, Nindroids swarmed the streets, and the Overlord tore a path of destruction. He sat atop a mech that had been created from the Golden Weapons, in a physical form that looked like solid shadow, having finally fulfilled his vow of becoming the Golden Master.

“ _The temple’s up ahead_ ,” Sensei Wu announced over the comms.

I spotted Nya swooping down and grabbing two Nindroids, tossing them aside. “ _Two down and moving onwards to the---_ ” She was cut off as a car came out of nowhere and knocked her out of the sky. I saw her Samurai X suit crash onto the ground and not move again.

“No!” I exclaimed.

“ _Nya’s down!_ ” Kai exclaimed. “ _I repeat, Nya’s down!_ ”

“ _I’m going back for her!_ ” Cole stated.

“ _No, I’ll go back!_ ” Jay argued.

“ _Go back, and our probability to make it to the temple exponentially diminishes_ ,” Zane pointed out.

“ _This isn’t about numbers, Zane_ ,” Kai snapped. “ _It’s about family_.”

I nodded, even though they couldn’t see me. “Yeah. I don’t wanna leave her out in this chaos, either.” We’d left Sensei Wu behind when this all started; I'd rather not leave anybody behind again.

“ _Everyone else head to the temple_ ,” Lloyd told Pixal, Sensei Wu, and his father. “ _We’ll go pick up Nya_.”

Lloyd and I swerved off of our current course, regrouping with the other ninja as we went to retrieve Nya.

“I’ve got her,” Kai announced. “She’s on the corner of Bradley Boulevard and---”

He was cut off as something exploded behind us, sending us all flying out of our vehicles and tumbling onto the street. Our vehicles crashed around us, and everyone grunted at the hard landing. _What now?!_

“...and somewhere,” Kai groaned in pain.

Something huge landed right in front of us, making the entire street shake. “The famous ninja have time for a meet-and-greet,” said a distorted voice I knew all too well. Lifting my head, I was met with the sight of the Overlord, towering over us on his new giant mech and fixing us with his glowing red eyes. “Let’s dance!” Cackling madly, the Overlord began spinning around in place, creating a giant golden tornado of Spinjitzu.

Lloyd scurried over to me and grabbed my hand, helping me to stand up again. “Well, this is nice,” I muttered sarcastically, not approving of the Overlord's new abilities.

“Change of plans,” Lloyd announced. “Run!”

The six of us fled back the way we came, running for our lives down the street as the giant golden tornado pursued us. The giant Spinjitzu vortex was creating winds so strong that it was lifting debris off the ground, sucking everything in toward it. It pulled at us as we ran, but we kept going, determined to get away. We had to leap over and fight off objects that were being pulled in the opposite direction, toward the Overlord. We leapt over cars, busses, trash cans, and mailboxes, sprinting toward the temple as fast as we possibly could.

Finally, I spotted it up ahead. Even though it was along in years, it was elegant and regal, and faintly reminded me of the Temple of Light. It was surrounded by trees, and a fence enclosed the area. The six of us leapt over the fence and onto the grass, scurrying uphill toward the entrance with the giant golden tornado right on our tail. Sensei Wu and Garmadon were waiting for us, quickly ushering us inside as they began to close the heavy doors.

“Brother, now!” Sensei Wu shouted once we were all inside.

He and Garmadon slammed the large doors shut, locking them.

“Activate the shield,” Garmadon urged.

Said shield was quickly activated. I peered out a window, and watched as a glowing blue barrier rose up around the temple. It materialized right before the Overlord could reach the temple, and I could hear him loudly screaming in rage. I let out a sigh of relief.

As soon as I turned away from the window, I was enveloped in a surprise bear hug from Lloyd. Laughing, I immediately wrapped my arms around him and hugged him back, humming in contentment. It hadn’t been very long at all since we’d last seen each other, but it felt so good to be back in his arms again.

When we pulled apart, I tugged my mask down and immediately asked him, “Are you alright?”

“Am _I_ alright?” Lloyd echoed in shock. “What about you?! You’ve been through much more than I have in the past day.”

I snickered. “Eh, debatable, but I’m not inclined to argue at the moment.”

My joking didn’t ease his concern. He made a guilty face, still holding my arms. “I’m sorry, Aurora,” he apologized. “I-I was supposed to protect you. But I failed, and you got hurt because of me---”

“Lloyd, stop it!” I urged him, halting his guilty rambling. “Don’t blame yourself for what happened. It’s not your fault! If you think I blame you for my getting ninja-napped, you’re wrong. If anything, I blame myself for being careless!” When he still looked like he felt bad, I gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m fine, Lloyd,” I assured him. “I promise.”

Lloyd sighed in what sounded like a mixture of relief and acceptance. “Thank goodness. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Rose.”

“I shudder to think,” I replied in a fake tone of dread.

The two of us shared a short laugh, then smiled at each other, glad to be reunited again. At that moment, I really wanted to kiss him, and somehow I knew he wanted the same thing---but alas, now was not the time.

Lloyd and I joined everyone else at the back of the room, where Cyrus Borg was waiting for us. The ceiling trembled, dust falling from the cracks as the Overlord’s forces attempted to break through the shield outside. We were safe for the moment, but sooner or later we’d be exposed again.

“You said you had a weapon that could stop him?” Lloyd inquired Borg.

“I do,” the engineer confirmed, smirking. A part of the floor in front of him opened up, and a high-tech box came rising up from its depths. “It’s my most protected secret.”

“What is it?” Jay asked excitedly.

“It is well-protected,” Zane observed.

“Is it an ancient curse?” Lloyd guessed.

“Can it disintegrate things?” I guessed, smiling from the growing excitement. It would be extremely satisfying if we could reduce the Overlord to a mere pile of ashes.

“I say firepower,” Kai stated.

“I hope it rocks,” Cole added.

Everyone watched anxiously as Borg slowly opened the box---a long process that required a lot of unlocking. We all gathered closely around him, eager to see the secret weapon that could defeat the Overlord.

“Is it dangerous?” Jay asked frantically. “Is it alive? Does it come with a manual? Is it a...a...a…”

The box slid open, revealing a small, simple gray pill laying inside.

“A PILL?!” Jay finished, his excitement turning into frustration.

“Ah, not just any pill---a nano pill,” Borg explained, plucking the pill from the box. “For all of time, scientists have been searching for the holy grail of inventions: a diet pill that actually works!”

I couldn’t decide whether to facepalm or not. Instead, I just stood there, bewildered. _And this helps us how, exactly?_ The ceiling shook above us again, a reminder that the Nindroids were still trying to break down our shield of safety.

Garmadon seemed to be the only one who brightened up at Borg’s secret weapon. Upon seeing all of our confused faces, he told us, “Wait until you are old---you’ll see why it’s so important.” He then turned to Borg, gripping his arms desperately. “Tell me, Borg. Does it work?”

The sincere, eager hopefulness in his voice made me cough to cover up a laugh.

“No,” Borg deadpanned. “But the nanotechnology inside has an adverse effect. It not only shrinks your waistline, but miniaturizes you as well!”

“You’ve made a shrinking pill?” Zane summarized.

Kai frowned. “Let me get this straight. You want us to get close to this guy, who has armor that with the mere touch would make us toast, and you want us to give him a _pill_?”

“Precisely!” Borg exclaimed enthusiastically.

Garmadon turned to Sensei Wu with a smile. “Brother, do you remember when both of us were on the same team?”

“Uh hey, yeah, old timers, mind paying attention?” Jay told them, going into panic mode. “We’re trying to save the world here!”

I nudged him. “Let them talk, Jay. They may be onto something.”

“You’re right, brother,” Sensei Wu agreed, coming to whatever realization Garmadon had. “On the playground when we were kids. Templegate Tigers.”

Garmadon chuckled. “I threw a mean curve ball, and your stick could thread the needle. We never lost.”

“So true,” Sensei Wu reminisced. He then turned to the rest of us. “Get us close, ninja, and we’ll give the Golden Master his medicine.”

Everyone took a few long minutes to go over our plan of attack and prepare for the uphill battle that awaited us. There were a few spare sets of Stone Warrior armor laying around us, so those of us who would be fighting decided to put them on. A little extra protection couldn’t hurt, right?

As I was pulling the old armor on myself, my earlier train of thought came back to me. _The shrinking pill is a good idea, but what if it doesn’t work?_ I had complete faith in Sensei Wu and Garmadon, but sometimes things just didn’t work out. _If the pill idea doesn’t work, then my silver power is our best chance at stopping the Overlord…_

I came out of my thoughts when I noticed Zane approaching me. He had yet to put on any armor. “What is troubling you, sister?” he asked me, his tone concerned.

“Is it that obvious?” I asked, smirking in amusement as I finished slipping the stone armor on.

He returned my smile. “Not really, but I have been known to be quite observant.”

That made me giggle a little, knowing how much it was true. I decided to share with him what was on my mind. “I’m...thinking about our plan,” I explained, my smile slowly fading. “The Overlord has become the Golden Master now, but I still have my silver power. He told me that my power was the greatest threat standing in his way, since Lloyd gave his up and all. That was one of the reasons why he still wanted it for his own.” I sighed, looking down at my hands. “I’ve been debating with myself, and I’ve realized that I now might be the only one who can destroy him for good. So if this plan doesn’t work, I… I’m going to do whatever it takes to destroy him---even if I have to use every ounce of my power to do it.”

Zane frowned. “But Aurora, if you use all of your power at once to destroy the Overlord when he has the power of the Golden Weapons...you could end up destroying yourself as well.”

I gave him a wry smile. “The thought has crossed my mind multiple times. But...I feel like it has to be me. Even though I can’t have Lloyd fighting by my side this time, I have to use the powers I’ve been given to make sure that the Overlord gets destroyed forever. Even if I…” I trailed off with a humorless chuckle, unable to finish the grim thought aloud. “Well, I _really_ hope that doesn’t happen.”

My words did nothing to relieve Zane’s concern. “Aurora…”

I tried my best to keep smiling for him---but on the inside, I was suddenly very afraid of what might happen to me. “Everything will be fine, Zane,” I told him, putting a reassuring hand on his arm. “I owe it to the people of Ninjago to try. Besides, the senseis’ plan will probably work anyway. There won’t need to be any self-sacrifices.”

Zane looked as if he wanted to say more, but we were out of time. The shield was close to being compromised, and we needed to move out now if we wanted any chance of succeeding.

“Are we sure this is gonna protect us?” Kai asked as he finished putting on the stone armor.

“If the Overlord’s Stone Warriors used this against the first Spinjitzu master, I see no reason why we can’t use it against those exact same powers,” Garmadon stated.

Zane looked like he was thinking for a moment, then offered the armor to Pixal. “Here. You take it.”

She shook her head. “No, you are vital to this mission. Don’t worry about me. I shall see you again.”

The scene warmed my heart. _Zane has an android girlfriend!_ I spared a moment to inwardly squeal at how cute the two of them were, smiling at each other and gazing into each other’s eyes.

“Zane,” Garmadon urged. “Zane, we have to go.”

Lloyd gasped next to me, pointing out the window. “Hey, the seal! It’s broken!”

Sure enough, the blue barrier was sinking back into the ground, allowing the Nindroids to pass through it. That was when Nya made an appearance, driving a dangerous-looking tank that had belonged to the Nindroids. She ran over and fought off the Nindroids surrounding us, and I was relieved that she was okay.

“Better late than never!” she shouted to us. “Go get ‘em, ninja!”

With a cry of “Ninja, go!” the six of us burst out of the temple, twisting into our tornadoes of Spinjitzu. Any Nindroid that tried to attack us was knocked away, leaving us a clear path out of the temple gates. We scurried into the city, climbing up onto the nearest building and leaping across the rooftops as we headed for the Overlord. Sensei Wu and Garmadon followed us closely.

“Feels like old times, doesn’t it?” I heard Sensei ask his brother.

“Yes, it feels good,” Garmadon agreed.

Suddenly, a roof off to our right burst apart, the debris forming what resembled a giant hand. It curled into a fist and crashed down right on top of us. We all ducked our heads, but the debris dropped around us harmlessly, not even scraping us.

“I don’t believe it,” Cole exclaimed. “The armor’s working!”

“Keep going!” I shouted, pointing ahead. “We have to take the heat off the senseis!”

The Overlord had materialized dozens of golden lines that connected and crisscrossed one another, and had latched onto nearby buildings. It had formed a giant golden web right in the middle of the city, and he was the deadly spider that waited at its center. The others and I all hopped onto it, spreading out as we ran across it and slicing through the web to keep the attention off of the senseis.

We heard the people down below cheer at the sight of us, and it filled me with hope. The Overlord tried to block our path with a wall of cars, but we burst right through it, thanks to the Stone Warrior armor we’d added to our gis. The six of us halted at the edge of a building, standing tall side by side as we faced the Overlord, who towered above us on his golden web. I stood between Lloyd and Zane, feeling more and more confident with each passing moment.

That was when the Overlord began blasting nearby buildings at random, creating debris that plummeted down toward the people on the streets below us. They all ran around screaming, leaping out of the way of the falling rocks and debris.

“We have to save the people!” Lloyd exclaimed.

“We have to get the senseis closer!” Kai argued.

We were caught between our fight with the Overlord and saving the innocents. Before we could come to any decision, a blue figure caught my eye. It was a Hypnobrai, much to my surprise, popping out of a manhole cover on the street below.

“People of Ninjago, follow me!” he shouted.

The people began scurrying toward the nearest manhole covers as Serpentine began emerging from them, waving the panicked people safely below ground. It was certainly...unexpected. But definitely not unwelcome. I guess the Serpentine had turned over a new leaf? They certainly weren’t following Pythor’s bad example anymore, that was for sure.

“The snakes are on our side?” Jay exclaimed, bewildered. “Great. Now I _have_ seen it all.”

I snickered. “Don’t question miracles, Jay.”

We turned our attention back to the Overlord, still sitting on the top of his web. “We’ll never get close enough,” Kai pointed out.

“We won’t need to,” Garmadon assured him, running to the front. “Ready to thread the needle, brother?”

“Let’s show them what old timers can do,” Sensei Wu stated confidently.

The next sequence of events seemed to happen in slow motion. I watched anxiously with the others as Garmadon took a running start before leaping off of the building. He fell down, landed on a part of the web, and used it to spring himself up high into the air. Sensei Wu hopped off the building as his brother sailed upward. Garmadon used the force of his ascent to push his brother upward, sending him rocketing high into the air. He then tossed the nano pill up to Sensei Wu. When it reached his eye level, Sensei Wu spun around in midair and whacked the pill with his staff.

It was sent flying straight at the Overlord’s face. Everyone watched with wide eyes and eager anticipation as the nano pill sailed straight for the Overlord’s open mouth, which had opened out of surprise. The pill sailed closer...closer...closer… For one long moment, I was so sure that this was about to work and save us all, and prepared myself to jump for joy when the pill hit its target. 

Then Pythor leapt up right in front of the Overlord’s face, snatching the pill out of the air with his mouth.

My heart dropped.

Pythor started coughing after he swallowed the pill, landing on a building below the Overlord. After a few moments, his body started shifting, and before I knew it, he had abruptly shrunken down to the size of a worm. He yelled as his body shrunk. “Ah! What’s happening to me?!” He took one look at himself, then screeched, “No!!”

That was when the falcon flew in, heading straight for Pythor. The now-tiny snake screamed in terror, quickly slithering away from the bird as fast as he could.

I would’ve been laughing myself absolutely silly, if I wasn’t so devastated. That shrinking pill had been our one shot… But it had failed.

It was time for Plan B. My silver power was our best chance at stopping the Overlord now, and I started preparing myself to do whatever it took to defeat him. Even if I had to use everything I had left…

“That was _it_?” the Overlord exclaimed, clearly not impressed. “ _That_ was all you’ve got?!”

Before I could move away to stop him, the strings of the golden web came to life. They shot out, wrapping around each of us and grabbing us in their vice-like grip. The Overlord lifted us all up into the air, and I flailed as my feet dangled over the streets far below. I desperately tried to break free so I could go stop him, but the line was tightly pinning my arms to my sides. I was going nowhere.

“The armor,” Cole exclaimed. “Why isn’t it working?”

“Because your time is over!” the Overlord proclaimed.

As I searched for a way to escape, I noticed that Zane was the only one that hadn’t been grabbed by the Overlord. He stood on the building we’d been standing on, and there was an intense look in his eyes that I couldn’t describe. He pulled his mask down, and I heard him say, “Support me, friends. For one last time.”

He ran to the edge of the building, leaping off of it. He landed on Jay’s feet, who was upside down, and used them to hop over to Cole’s feet. Confused, I turned my feet upward, allowing him to leap off of them after hopping from Kai’s feet.

“Zane, what are you doing?” I asked him as he went by, a bad feeling forming in the pit of my stomach.

Zane didn’t answer, instead leaping over to Sensei. He used Sensei’s feet to launch himself into the air, soaring upwards towards the Overlord. I turned myself back upright just in time to see him grab onto the Overlord’s armor---the one that had been crafted from the Golden Weapons. The weapons you weren’t supposed to touch all at once.

It was then that I realized what he intended to do---and why he was doing it.

“Let my friends go!” Zane shouted at the Overlord as he was enveloped in a blue light.

“Go where, doomed ninja?” the Overlord asked. “The Golden Weapons are too powerful for you to behold. Your survival chance is low.”

Struggling to catch his breath, Zane confidently replied, “This isn’t about numbers. It’s about family.”

The strings of the web began turning green, and they released me along with everyone else. I dropped to the ground, my gaze snapping back up to Zane as soon as I’d landed. _No… He can’t be…_

“He’s not letting go!” Lloyd pointed out.

“His heart!” Jay exclaimed. “It’s reaching critical mass!”

“If his heart overloads, he’ll blow!” Cole yelled. “He’ll never survive!”

“Let go of him, Zane!” Kai shouted up at the Nindroid. “What is he doing?!”

“He’s protecting us,” Sensei Wu stated, realizing what I already had.

Unable to speak and frozen in shock, all I could do was stare up at Zane, glowing blue and taking on the Overlord all on his own. Doing what _I_ had intended to do---what I was _supposed_ to do. What I had told him I was going to do if our plan failed.

But Zane knew how scared I’d secretly been of losing everything, including my life.

He knew that it didn’t have to be me.

He didn’t _want_ it to be me. He _refused_ for it to be me.

He wanted me, as well as the others, to live on. He wanted his family to be safe, even if it meant that he couldn’t be with us anymore. He wanted to save Ninjago, if it meant that everyone he cared about would get to live and fight another day.

He was taking the blow I had believed was meant for me.

“I am a Nindroid!” I heard Zane loudly proclaim. “And ninja _never_ quit!” He briefly looked down, his gaze falling on where we were gathered below. Somehow, his eyes met mine, and his smile said much more than words ever could. “Go, ninja! Go!” He brought his hands together, some unseen force keeping him floating, and shot a powerful beam of ice straight at the Overlord.

“What are you doing?!” the Overlord bellowed in outrage as he was slowly frozen. “Let me go, you fool!”

“No, Zane, no!” Jay yelled.

I snapped to my senses, running forward with him and Lloyd. Sensei Wu stopped the three of us short as millions of ice shards scattered around the Overlord.

“We have to get out of here, now!” he urged us.

“B-But I…” I protested, unable to get the words out. “I can… I can…” I could stop this. I could go instead. It was supposed to be me! But deep down, I knew that it was already too late.

Garmadon pried open a nearby manhole, and we were all ushered inside of it. Before I climbed down, I took one last look up at Zane, watching as he unleashed his full power of ice upon the Overlord and a snowstorm spread out across the city.

Kai and Jay were the last to enter, closing the manhole cover just as a massive shockwave rippled across the city. Lloyd and I huddled together as a sheer cold set in, chilling me down to my bones. The bottom of the manhole cover froze over in a thick layer of blue ice. The shockwaves seemed to last both a moment and an eternity. Then, as soon as they fully subsided, Kai knocked the manhole cover away and everyone climbed out from underground. Lloyd pulled me up, and I was met with a shocking sight:

It was almost beautiful. The entire floor of the city was covered in a layer of sparkling light blue ice, spreading from Borg Tower outward. A frigid temperature had set in, and the light, icy snowfall that gently fell from the heavens felt peaceful. The Overlord was nowhere to be seen.

But neither was Zane.

Cole found a piece of Zane’s face that had broken off, picking it up. The sight of it made Nya lose it. She began bawling, covering her face as Cole wrapped her in a comforting hug---much to the chagrin of Jay, who had been approaching her with a ready embrace of his own. Pixal turned away from us, hiding her face.

I looked up at the bright sky, the cold snowflakes falling onto my flushed face. That was when it hit me, too: Zane was gone. We’d never see him again. We’d never get to laugh with him again. We’d never get to fight alongside him again. He was _gone_.

My emotions erupted all at once, and it didn’t even take a full second for my eyes to grow watery and start producing tears. A hand on my arm made me turn away from the sky, and I wasn’t surprised to find Lloyd there. I saw a few unshed tears in his eyes as well. I immediately buried my face in his chest, clinging to him as my tears flowed freely down my face. I choked out ugly sobs into his gi, but he didn’t seem to mind. He wrapped his arms around me comfortingly, burying his face into my hair---probably to hide his own tears. The two of us clung to each other, letting our despair, sadness, and grief flow freely between us.

Zane had sacrificed himself so that I wouldn’t have to. How could I possibly live with that?

. . .

“I used to think technology would be the answer to all of our problems…”

I tried my best to hold back my tears as I listened to Cyrus Borg’s words. We were all gathered in the middle of the vast park that sat in the center of the city, sitting before a memorial that had been built for the occasion. A large statue sat covered on the low dais, and next to it sat a giant photo of Zane’s smiling face that was surrounded by white flowers. I was trying to avert my eyes from it. The day was beautiful and sunny, without a cloud in the sky. It was pleasantly warm, with birdsong and fluttering butterflies, the kind of day that was supposed to make people happy---but all it did was make me miss the snow.

“But then I saw technology invent new problems,” Borg said, continuing his eulogy. “Devastating problems. And then a Nindroid named Zane saved us all. He was the perfect balance between us and technology. He taught us that life should be a balance. Technology can improve our lives, but so can people. And if we focus on one at the expense of the other, that’s when the balance is off. Our city will find its way again, but this time with Zane as our compass. With that, I give to you...the Titanium Ninja.”

Borg tugged the tarp down, unveiling a shining titanium statue of Zane. He wore his ninja gi and carried a sword on his back, but he was faceless. The gray titanium gleamed white under the light of the sun. Seeing Zane being honored in such a way comforted me a little, but it still didn’t do much to quell the sadness and guilt that wouldn’t go away. Lloyd and I sat together behind Cole and Jay, and the two of us had been holding hands the entire time to silently reassure one another that we were there for them. Lloyd squeezed my hand as we looked up at the statue with watery eyes, and I squeezed his back. The falcon soon swooped in from above, landing on the statue’s shoulder. He lowered his head as if he, too, were grieving.

“So...what happens after this?” Nya asked in a quiet voice.

“I don’t know,” Cole replied.

“And I don’t care,” Jay stated, sounding like he was about to cry. “Today’s about Zane.”

Borg rolled his wheelchair away from the statue. “And now Kai would like to speak for those who knew him best.” He moved off to the side, allowing Kai to take the stage.

Kai was quiet for a moment before speaking. “Everyone wondered what powered Zane,” he began. “I don’t know if we’ll ever know, but I’d like to think it was brotherhood. Because he powered me. And he’ll still power me as his memory lives on. Ninja never quit, and ninja will _never_ be forgotten.” He looked up at the sky. “Wherever you are, Zane, you’ll always be one of us.”

To everyone’s surprise, it began snowing. Light snowflakes flittered down from the heavens, glittering like stars in the sunlight. It was strange; there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky. As the crowd murmured in surprise, I turned my face upward to let the cold snowflakes land on my face. They were soothing, and made me smile for the first time since the day Zane passed. It was as if he were responding to Kai’s words, letting us all know that he’d always be with us.

Lloyd nudged me, and I lowered my head to see that those closest to Zane were walking up to the statue. I stood up with Lloyd and joined them, following Nya, Kai, Cole, Jay, Sensei Wu, and Sensei Garmadon up onto the dais. We all clumped together, everyone wearing a small smile on their face as we put our arms around each other. I looked back up toward the sky with them as the snowflakes caressed our faces, surrounding us in a pleasant chill as we held our fallen friend close in our hearts.

. . .

Not too long after the ceremony ended, Lloyd and I managed to sneak away for some quiet time on our own. We found an ornate bench on the side of a walking trail that ran through a corner of the park, surrounded by oak trees and cherry trees. It was a beautiful, serene section of the park, littered with flowers and fallen pink petals from the blossoming cherry trees. I sat on the bench, leaning on his shoulder with his arm wrapped around me. It would’ve been romantic, if we weren’t still grieving about Zane.

No matter how much I tried to ignore them, the thoughts and feelings of guilt wouldn’t leave my mind. Somehow, I felt partly responsible for Zane being gone. After all, if I had never told him of my intentions to defeat the Overlord on my own, would he still have stepped up and sacrificed himself? Would I have been the one to do it, as I’d planned? I knew that it was pointless to think about, but my mind found ways to accuse me and make me feel guilty for it.

Perhaps talking about it would help ease my plagued mind. And Lloyd was the one I trusted the most.

“Call me crazy, but… I feel like it should’ve been me.”

Lloyd turned to me, confusion written on his face. “What?” he replied. “What do you mean?”

I lifted my head off of his shoulder so I could face him, sighing. “When the Overlord became the Golden Master, my silver power was the greatest threat to him---he said so himself. I was prepared to give everything I had in order to destroy him for good, no matter what it took or what I had to give up in return. But Zane destroyed him instead---and paid the ultimate price for it.” I looked down. “I told Zane right before the fight that I felt like it had to be me, that I had to be the one who sacrificed myself for the greater good. B-But Zane ended up being the one to…” I couldn’t finish the sentence as I began to get choked up again, trying to force my tears to back down. “A-And I just feel so _guilty_. I-If I hadn’t told him anything… If I had been the one to destroy the Overlord, then maybe Zane would still be...still be...alive.”

Despite my efforts, a few tears leaked from my eyes and fell down my face. I hurriedly tried wiping them away, but my cheeks remained wet as I sniffled. Lloyd was quiet, not saying anything at first. For one terrifying moment, my irrational paranoia convinced me that he would also find me guilty.

Then, Lloyd grabbed my hand in both of his own. “Aurora. There is absolutely no reason for you to blame yourself for what happened,” he stated firmly. I turned my gaze to him as he continued. “Zane did what he did to save us and save Ninjago, to fight for what he believed in. It was his choice to make and his alone---you didn’t make it for him. He wanted to protect his family, even though he knew it would cost him his life. You have nothing to feel guilty about---and if Zane were here, he’d tell you the same thing.”

His words brought a smile to my face. “You’re right,” I replied, swiping a few stray tears away. “Of course you’re right.” I knew that my guilt had been irrational, but I think I just needed somebody to convince me of that. I smiled at him gratefully. “Thanks for that, Lloyd.”

Lloyd returned my smile. “Hey, you’ve talked me out of my crazy ideas plenty of times. It’s only fair that I return the favor.”

I chuckled at his words, knowing how true they were. Now that my feelings of guilt had been dealt with, I didn’t feel as depressed anymore.

“There’s the girl I love,” Lloyd said at the sound of my laughter.

Cue the embarrassed blushing. It was Lloyd’s turn to chuckle at my shyness, and after a long couple days of grieving and crying, it was a welcome change. The two of us smiled at one another, gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes---something that, ironically, we used to find sappy and gross. We both leaned toward each other and met in a soft kiss as the sun continued to warm us. 

I was suddenly all the more thankful for Zane’s heroism. If I had gone through with defeating the Overlord with my silver power, and if I’d had to pay the ultimate price for it, I never would’ve been here to experience this now. I wouldn’t have a whole future ahead of me with the ones I loved.

And I vowed to never stop finding ways to pay him back for that gift.

“WHOA!”

The loud, familiar outburst made me and Lloyd abruptly break apart, our gazes snapping behind us. I found myself blushing profusely again, caught between embarrassed and startled. Everyone was standing several feet away, staring at us---like, literally _everyone_ in our big, happy, dysfunctional family. Even Sensei Wu, and Lloyd’s parents. They’d all seen us kissing.

Oh boy.

“Excuse me?!” Jay loudly exclaimed in shock. “Why did nobody tell me that you two were together?!”

Lloyd and I exchanged a look, the two of us shyly chuckling in embarrassment and blushing up a storm. I guess the secret was out---not that it was meant to be a secret, but we hadn’t really broadcasted it, either.

Cole smirked. “Alright, Lloyd! Way to go!” he praised, like he’d been rooting for this the whole time. “You’re the man! Woot woot!”

“It’s about time,” Kai muttered with a smile on his face. “I was beginning to think you two would never get together.”

"I called it," Jay claimed, laughing. "I so called it!"

"You did not," Cole argued.

"Did too!"

They all rushed over and surrounded us, excitedly expressing their joy about the two of us “finally” getting together. Like Nya, most of them had apparently been anxiously waiting for it to happen for a while now. The boys also began teasing us, just like we knew they would.

Jay and Cole started dancing around us, singing, “ _Lloyd and Aurora, sitting in a tree…_ ”

I snickered, shaking my head at them. “Is that really necessary?” How mature of them!

Lloyd groaned as they danced around. “Come on, guys, cut it out,” he muttered, half embarrassed and half annoyed.

If I were being honest, I didn’t mind their teasing all that much.

I soon found myself in Nya’s crushing embrace. “It finally happened! I’m so happy for you!” she squealed. “I just wanna say: I told you so!” She beamed. “Chartreuse is finally a reality! This is so exciting!”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Nya, what the heck is...‘Chartreuse?’”

She froze, looking embarrassed. “Uh, heh heh… Did I say that aloud?” She then hurried to correct herself. “I-I mean, nothing! It means nothing!”

I laughed at her odd behavior. “Well, thanks anyway,” I told her, smiling. “And yes, you did tell me so.”

It was times like these that I was reminded of the amazing family I was so lucky to be a part of. Even though Zane wasn’t here, we would forever carry him with us in our hearts and never forget what he’d given us. Like Kai had said: he would always continue to power us as his memory lived on. As we lived out our days, we would live for him and honor his memory.

I would never forget my brother Zane. The Nindroid. The Titanium Ninja. A true hero.

  
  


**_The End_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING!
> 
> *sniffle* Anyway, that concludes book three! A lot shorter than we're used to, but I hope I made up for it! I'm glad you all enjoy my writing so much, and your words of praise never cease to make my day! You guys are what keep me going! You're all literally the best! :D
> 
> As for book four, it's already in the works! I'm not sure when I'll begin posting that; it won't be next week, but I promise you won't have to wait more than a month and a half! Honestly, it'll probably only be a month wait tops. I've been back at school for about a month now, so production has slowed down, and I wanna stay ahead. But I promise you guys will have the next book soon! Until then, I wish you all well!


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